Corowa-Rutherglen returns to the Ovens and Murray after a year in recess

Nine months on from the 'perfect storm' of a mass player exodus and major flood damage which forced them into recess, the Roos rubber-stamped their return at a board meeting on Thursday night, October 26.

Club leaders then joined O and M officials to announce the news at a press conference on Friday morning, breaking the seal on a monster effort behind the scenes to bring the club back almost from the dead.

The board's decision comes on the back of a rise in playing numbers in both football and netball which now makes the proposed comeback practicable.

Already, the Roos have enough footballers signed to field senior and under-18 teams, with efforts now being channelled towards finding sufficient numbers to also have reserves.

History suggests that clubs which go into recess do not bounce back, so Roos president Graham Hosier was understandably emotional as he spoke of his pride at bucking that gloomy trend.

"Look, it was a s--t decision I made in January so to be able to sit here and say 'we're doing it again, we're coming back,' you can hear in my voice what it means," Hosier said.

"There's been a lot of heartache and there's been a lot of sleepless nights over what we've done, but our board has stuck together.

"It was the perfect storm last year: floods, no players, where are we going to go?

"It's just great to see it turn around again.

"We love Corowa-Rutherglen and we've missed having football down at the oval.

"We're hoping for the three teams; we're working on reserves but we're certainly going to have seniors and thirds for next year.

"Even if we haven't got reserves, the Ovens and Murray are still backing us.

"What gives me confidence is the work our footy department has done.

"It's an unforgiving job, it's a tough gig and mid-year, there were a lot of people saying 'they're doing nothing, they're doing nothing' but they were talking to people (in the background) and at the end of the season, all of a sudden, they've just gone bang.

"They had a web and that web has brought people in.

"We, as a board, wondered how they were going but I've been to their meetings and they've got that many numbers and spreadsheets...

"They've worked very hard to get us to where we are.

"Without football, it's hard to get guys back here but they're going to get a team back, and thirds too.

"We had a great under-16s team and those guys were worried we weren't going to come back but we've got Ben (Talarico) on board so they've got somewhere to come up and play footy."

Jason Marks, who played for CDHBU in the Hume League this year, continued working as a member of Corowa-Rutherglen's football department and is now seeing the fruits of those labours.

"We've got more players signed now than we've had at this point in the last 10 years," Marks said.

"The people we've got on board are predominantly local returning players and people with links to the community.

"That's been a big focus of everything we've done because we don't just want to come back next year and then fall over, it's about the year after that and being a competitive team for a long time.

"Last year, we had a group of people working their arses off, recruiting, and that group of people had done it for several years.

"It's a very tiring job in a football-netball world but over this year we've added to that in very different categories; we've got people in business involved, we've got people focusing on an age group in a development role and that's never been done in Corowa before.

"Ben has been instrumental in getting that particular age group back motivated and involved and also involving past players like Cade Mills to get that community love back for Corowa in a recruiting sense.

"All of these little components have built up into having this confidence."

Steve Owen, who succeeded Peter German as Corowa-Rutherglen's senior coach last December, can now look ahead to pre-season and preparing his side for the rigours of Ovens and Murray football.

"A lot of our confidence comes from the momentum of the local signings this week," Owen said.

"For instance, we got a new avenue on Monday and had signed the player by Wednesday.

"Another four or five names were sent to me last night, we've had a conversation and the contracts are already out.

"The momentum is snowballing from the locals jumping on board."

Corowa-Rutherglen did remain active in Ovens and Murray netball this year, putting a C-grade side on court as well as in the 17/U and 15/U grades.

Sophie Hanrahan, the club's A-grade coach, never doubted they could get back across the board - but admitted there were plenty of sceptics.

"We'd have great conversations with everybody in this room, knowing everyone was doing so much work but the hardest times were often out in the community, when you'd be caught off-guard by someone asking 'so do you really think Corowa's going to come back?'" Hanrahan revealed.

"I'd be like 'don't you think so, because I think so, or am I just being an optimist?'

"That's when I would start to doubt but all it took was a phone call to Rowena (Black) and she'd tell me about all the amazing work everyone was doing and then I would feel like I could go to sleep that night!

"I never got the vibe from anybody in this room that we wouldn't be back.

"It's great to now announce this to everybody in the community, who maybe did doubt us, because they never heard anything at the time."

Black, the Roos secretary and treasurer, has been heading up netball operations.

"It's been an extraordinarily hard year, to keep the framework and the mindset that we're looking and working towards a goal and not allowing people outside to say 'you can't do it.'" Black said.

"I was looking back at an article from February, with people around Victoria going 'they'll never do it, it's impossible' but every time I met with Soph, I felt like we were on the right track.

"But September, leading into October, I definitely felt a sense of 'oh goodness, this is the linchpin, we are in the most critical time now.'

"Because I wasn't necessarily at the coal face of conversations, I had to keep trusting that people were doing their jobs - but it was hard.

"You had to keep a positive mindset."

"At times, we thought 'is this possible?'" Hosier added.

"But we both geed each other up and said 'yeah, it's going to happen.'

"We all have faith and trust in each other and it's brought us closer together.

"We know what we're working towards and that we're charged with getting the football players and netball players back.

"We knew where we were, internally, but I couldn't say anything to my mates down the pub.

"Then you'd get that negativity coming from them and you'd start to question yourself: is it or isn't it going to happen?

"But it's always been there that we were going to reform and that's what we said, right at the start in February."

Owen's still waiting to take charge of his first game as coach but his belief never wavered.

"We had no other option, we were going to come back," he said.

"I don't know what the stats are for clubs that have folded and come back in the same form, without merging with anyone, but the number would be pretty low.

"But we took our time to get the structure and the foundation right, we identified key people for the right roles.

"There was an element of risk but we knew that if we stuck true to the plan we made back in January that we were going to be coming back.

"The announcements we've already made, and those which will come in the next couple of weeks, are the results of all the hard work."

A merger was discussed and Hanrahan insisted those at the centre of the reset were always open to change.

"What we all agreed on was that it didn't matter if we came back as Corowa-Rutherglen, the important thing was that this area had an Ovens and Murray team," she said.

"I think some people thought we were being greedy, saying 'we're going to be back as Corowa-Rutherglen' but we didn't care if we came back as Corowa-Wahgunyah-Coreen-Daysdale.

"What matters is junior sport and people having opportunities in the Ovens and Murray to play competitive football and netball.

"Look at the Kaelan Bradtkes of the world; give these kids opportunities just like their mates in Albury, so they don't have to travel an hour or 45 minutes down the road.

"We let our egos go; while history and tradition is great, future sport is more important.

"It's just great we've been able to do it and come back as Corowa-Rutherglen."

The Roos are moving forward stronger and wiser for the experience.

"We know we're not the finished product," Marks said.

"We're not going to be stuck and narrow, to do exactly what we've done previously.

"We've been through what we've been through and we've come out the other end knowing that in three or six months' time, it's going to look different again.

"We're ready for that and we're ready to bring people into that excitement and period of change."

The Roos gave the O and M monthly updates, with league officials and representatives from AFL North East Border attending club meetings.

"They are very supportive and hoping we can come back with three teams in football and five in netball," Hosier said.

"But if we went to them with a different proposal, they would look at that and support us."

"The Ovens and Murray have included us in everything."

Maintaining a netball presence helped that process greatly.

"I really don't want to under-sell the importance of the girls who played 15s, 17s and C-grade this year," Hanrahan said.

"I don't think these girls understand the impact they're going to have on this community and this club.

"Just by rocking up, to see that commitment from local girls and their families kept us in the conversation all year."

More to come.

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