The Saints players are stood in a ring around a throng of captivated Auskickers, who are hanging on Sharp's every word as he delivers the key messages ahead of a crucial clash with Corowa-Rutherglen.

Parents, stood just back from the main group, are capturing the moment on their camera phones and when Sharp has finished speaking, each player pairs up with one of the youngsters as the buzz of happy and excited chatter fills the packed club rooms.

It's not a scene you would see everywhere but, as president Ian Wales points out, this is no ordinary club.

"The thing a lot of people don't understand is that we're very unique," Wales said.

"Our strength is also our Achilles heel. We have to look after our kids, going right down to Auskick.

"I was at Auskick last Saturday morning presenting an award. I bet Albury don't have the senior coach or the president going to Auskick.

"We have to get people into this club from very young and keep them here because when you build a house, you don't put the roof on first, you build your slab. Our slab is having 100 kids at Auskick.

"If we don't have 100 kids at Auskick, down the track, we'll feel that at senior level.

"We get 100 there and then a few drop off at under-12s, under-14s, under-17s and then we've still got to recruit from different areas around here to field a thirds team.

"The likes of Mitch Dalbosco, Riley O'Shea and Brody Ricardi are Bright kids and if we haven't got them, we haven't got a team - simple."

On population, Myrtleford are bottom of the Ovens and Murray ladder but the Saints are punching above their weight with Wales fighting their corner at every turn.

"By nature, I'm a very defensive person and, probably to my detriment, I can get aggressive when people are having a go at me," Wales admitted.

"It's the old fight-or-flight scenario; my response is to go back hard and a lot of people over a long period of time have told me I've got too much to say.

"But if someone asks, I'll give my opinion. I won't pamper to people and give them the answer they want to hear. If you don't want to hear the answer, don't ask me the question, that's the way I look at things.

"I don't think AFL North East Border, when they make decisions, consider how difficult it is for small clubs like us and Corowa to survive.

"Not win, survive.

"I'm not talking financially, I'm talking about putting a competitive team on the ground in netball and football. It's a very tough gig and we request an extra couple of points all the time.

"I know there's clubs out there who say 'why should Myrtleford get extra points?' but we have a seconds team that might play finals this year and it would be the first time in 25 years that we've won more than four games.

"But all they look at is our senior team. The strength of a club is your reserves, not your senior team."

Speaking of which, Myrtleford's reserves are cruising to victory over their Corowa-Rutherglen counterparts with McNamara Reserve bathed in glorious winter sunshine as team manager Fred Baldori and I look out towards the imposing Mount Buffalo in the distance.

"It's a good feeling," Baldori said. "Over the years, we've been copping a hiding from most clubs but now it's payback time for us.

"The win against Albury recently, our boys played really well that day, pressure footy and that's the way they've been training ever since Jake's taken over - pressure, pressure - and it's finally paying off.

"It felt like we had the whole town in the change rooms that day. There's a real buzz around the place.

"As we get closer to finals, the town's starting to realise we've got a real good show here.

"On our day, we can beat any team.

"There are some good sides in the Ovens and Murray at the moment but you just don't know what can happen."

None of this is going to happen on an empty stomach, of course, and with the reputation of Myrtleford's food having spread far beyond the High Country, it's high time to investigate.

My chicken schnitzel roll, oozing with gravy and coleslaw, only enhances that standing, with canteen manager Kate Baldori the woman responsible for such fine cuisine.

"Everyone loves the hot dogs but we've just introduced the schnitzel rolls so they're on the rise," Baldori explained.

"Having a good team around me is important because it makes my life easier and means I don't spend 24/7 in the canteen.

"Behind any club or organisation you need your volunteers. Without them, none of this happens.

"You do it for the love of coming to socialise as well because that's a big part of coming to the footy.

"Sport is an outing for people, they see it as a great day out and it's important for mental health as well.

"If we make finals, you would find nobody at home," Baldori added.

"We've been down that track a couple of times and the town is deserted because the whole town follows the club."

Finals is also the goal for the Saints netballers, with playing A-grade coach Tina Way having also steered B-grade into top-five contention at the halfway stage of the season.

The sister of Leigh Corcoran, who coached Myrtleford for five years, Way spent 15 years in Darwin and Perth before accepting the offer to lead the Saints into a new era.

"When I first met with Myrtleford, we had an open discussion and the focus was to ensure we were one club, football and netball united," she said.

"I think Myrtleford sets the bar across the league in that regard.

"The dedication from the players is second to none at Myrtleford. They love their town, they love their community and they love their sport."

Way's straight-talking approach was as big a draw as her playing credentials when the club was seeking its new coach.

"I find that when you coach women, you get 30 to 40 women in one place and honesty is the best policy in that regard," Way said.

"But any open discussion we have is based on netball ability, not personal relationships.

"It's about creating the right culture within the club and as the leader of the netball club, it's about me setting that culture, being transparent and also knowing individual needs. Some players might need a gentler approach in regards to feedback on a game and some are happy to take it directly.

"It's my job to build good relationships with the players to ensure the message is delivered and received in the correct manner. It's a tricky balance as the coach.

"In the past, I've played with girls who are my best friends and had to coach them as netballers. I just make it very clear that this is all for the benefit of the side, there's no personal connotation behind anything and I think, over time, your friendships grow and develop within a club.

"The respect in any friendship grows over time, so hopefully the respect as a coach will do likewise."

Few of the club's volunteers get closer to the action than Jennifer Leita and Mary Dussin, who have monitored the interchange gates for the best part of two decades.

"It does get cold and wet here," Dussin said.

"They could build us a little shelter, don't you think?

"But we like to be behind the scenes, we're not up the front.

"Lots of volunteers just like to do their job and get on with it because you feel like you're giving back when you see these players and coaches committing every week and every off-season.

"We feel like we're supporting them when it's not successful, showing them support and being grateful for their commitment.

"Doing this keeps us connected with a lot of generations," Dussin added.

"We want to see the club have success and be a part of it when it does - but you've got to be there in the lean years too."

Leita reaches for her pen and jots down the latest player to come off the ground.

"When they're not successful, that support is even more important," she said.

"I've been involved with the football club since I was 16 years of age and I'm 62 now.

"I was a junior, waitressing at functions upstairs, helping out in the canteen, babysitting players' children, walking them around the ground, everything.

"I was on the board for seven or eight years, I've been making salad rolls for 35 years and doing the interchange for close to 20 years.

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"I'd done my volunteer bit and they were looking for people to go on the board.

"People weren't keen to step up so I thought I could contribute, which I did for seven or eight years."

Dussin, whose son Matthew has spent the last decade commuting from Melbourne to play for Myrtleford, has also made her fair share of salad rolls for the club.

"You do it because of the community," she said.

"It's a community club and there are great people around, which keeps you coming back. We do enjoy each other's company and we have fun."

What a day it's turning into for the Auskickers as they run out alongside the senior players with the first bounce just moments away.

As the saying goes, failure is the condiment which gives success its flavour and that certainly rings true for a smiling Wales.

"We've always been up and down," the former Saints player and coach reflected.

"When they sacked Ken Holmes in 1999, I stepped in to coach the last 12 games. It was leading into a bye so I had two weeks but it was a tough gig because some people thought it was wrong.

"David Johnston, who worked at The Border Mail, went at us pretty hard and we had lots of arguments.

"After my first six games we were 0-12 so we had heated discussions about that. He was putting us down but of the last six games, we won three and we beat two teams who were in the five.

"One of them was Yarrawonga and the other was Albury, who came here undefeated, so we didn't have a bad side.

"What happens here is that people have an ownership.

"If you go into our club rooms after we've had a win, there will be 80 to 100 people in there and they're all smiling.

"The other day, when we lost a game against Lavington, there were still 25 people in our club rooms. I see photos of other clubs where there's players, a coach and that's it.

"Here, people think they own a bit of it and as soon as you make a decision, if someone disagrees, they tell you.

"My answer to that is the AGM is in October, put your hand up and you run the show.

"I go back to the Auskick, when I was there last week, and the thing that impressed me was there were more parents than kids. That's fantastic.

"They're the ones who have to put their hands up be the next president or board members so that if their kids want to play footy around here, the club is still strong in years to come."

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