1995 Year 8 Boys Football

So close to becoming our 2nd State Champion team ever.

With less than a minute to go in the State Final against Warnambool High School at Skinner Reserve in Braybrook, we were in front by 4 points, after a brilliant snap from 35m by freakish Junior Magpie Brian Tavare. The whole team swarmed “Tava” thinking it was the match winner, such was the late stage of the game. However our boys hadn’t been alert enough to return to their positions prior to the next Centre Bounce. In the chaos, Warrnambool kicked one from a controversial free kick to go up by 2 points, and then a 2nd one immediately afterward to win by 8 points.

In earlier games they defeated Benalla Secondary College, Wangaratta Secondary College (88 points), Broadford Secondary College (206-0), Wodonga High School (68 points), Galen College (52 points). They then beat Glen Waverley SC in the Eastern Zone Final, and Mornington in the State Semi Final. 

This side had one future AFL player – Jon McCormick. “Hopper” had already been touted as on the path to the AFL, as early as the Mini Midgets (now known as Auskick), and two years prior was the Centreman in the Victorian Primary state team (alongside future Brisbane champion Jonathon Brown) that won the 1993 National Championships.

It’s hard to describe how good he was, so it’s best to use a description in The Weekly Times by that State team’s coach, which reads: 

“Jon was ranked as the number one player. He was amazing, special awareness and an uncanny ability to see exactly where all the opposition players and his team members are. He is skilful at using both the left and right sides of his body and handles the ball with confidence and ease. He is extremely talented.”

During this 1995 Year 8 campaign, McCormick kicked 9 goals in a match against Broadford playing as rover, and easily win the Junior League’s Ken Farrell Medal (League B&F U15s) as a bottom-ager. The following year, McCormick would star for the 1996 U15 Ovens & Murray Schoolboys, winning their Best Player award at the Championships. One teammate from that team who would play 200+ AFL games, said years later: ”Hopper was the best junior footballer I ever played with.”

McCormick would the next year win the 1997 McCormick Medal (League Best & Fairest, U17s Junior League) as a Year 10. After playing for the Victorian Tate U17 Cricket team in 1998, he following year he would finish 3rd in the 1999 Murray Bushrangers B&F and of course go on to play 26 games for Carlton, come Runner-Up in the VFL Liston Trophy, and win an O&M Morris Medal. Most judge “Hopper” as someone that could have played many more AFL games, if not for injuries (particularly stress fractures in his feet) curtailing his ability of be fully fit while at Carlton.

Nobody else in this team played Murray Bushrangers, however 3 others were good enough to play O&M Schoolboys – Stuart Evans (1996 alongside McCormick), plus Simon Gamze and Brian Tavare (1997, as they were young for their year level). 

Evans would later almost make the U18 Bushrangers squad, kicking 4 goals in a late trial game, and being cut from the squad at the death. A natural goal kicker, he kicked 9 in a Thirds game for the Magpies as a bottom-ager, and when debuting in the Seniors as a Year 11 in 1998 playing against Corowa’s reigning Morris Medalist “Juice’ Kingston, he kicked 5. The natural goallkicker, the year after this Year 8 Final, would play in the Under 17 division (despite still being eligible for Under 15), and win the League Goalkicking with 49

A few represented the Ovens & Murray Under 17 Interleague in 1999 – Gamze (Captain), Jud Mullins, Brian Tavare and David Thayer.

While McCormick was clearly the best and most skilful footballer, and Tavare, Gamze and Evans seemingly the next closest to Bushrangers standard, it was in fact others who were the Engine Room of this team.

The midfield had 3 big bodied boys who were freakish athletes for their age, and could also play football. Ruckman Scott Challman was a rep (Warriors) Basketballer who hadn’t played much Football, but jumped over the heads of the opposition ruckman. At his feet were two brutes in Matt Cameron and Adam Norris. Cameron was massively muscular, very fast, and looked 2 years older than everyone else – scary and intimidating in fact. Norris was literally older than everyone else (for example, 13 months older than Gamze and Tavare, and 14 months older than Mullins who was the youngest in the team). Norris too was tough, fast, and brilliant. Joel Fisher was another in the same vein – a bullocking, hard running, physically strong, fast and skilful. 

This quartet dominated games (proven in the Best Player Votes drawn from the Coach Gary Michael’s match reports) and won most clearances, and were so good that the small but brilliant McCormick could weave his magic, and afford to get forward and hit the scoreboard.

The mix was a bit like our 1996 Year 7 State Champion team, which had a dominant ruckman and aerialist in Karl Norman, tapping it down to a deep roster of powerful bodies in Joe Doody Heath Stamp, Brett Norris and Brendan Gamze to do the grunt work, for Steve Johnson to paint his brilliance over the top.

Both teams were coached by Gary Michael, who would also lead the 2005 Year 7s to the State Title, and the 1999 Seniors to the Herald Sun Country Shield.