Almanac Teams: Murray Kangaroos

One of North Melbourne’s most impressive Riverina recruits, “Horse” Longmire

 

The majestic Murray River winds south over 2,500 K’s providing life for much of Eastern Australia.  Despite its abuse by greedy irrigators and others of that ilk, it sustains much of eastern Australia. For quite a few years towns (teams) along the Murray helped sustain the North Melbourne Football Club. From the late 1960s their recruiting zone covered the North East of Victoria and the New South Wales Riverina. This is the locality of the mighty Ovens and Murray Football League, one of the strongest competitions outside of the big cities. Their recruiting zone also  included smaller leagues both sides of the border. So inspired by Phil Dimitriadis with his wonderful teams, I thought I’d give it a burl picking a team of North Melbourne players recruited from/on the Murray River .

 

I’ve been specific, only selecting those who were from towns (teams) on the Murray river; thus there is no one from places like Ariah Park, Benalla, Jerilderie or Moyhu. I’ve included the Farrant brothers Doug and Garry. They came from further down river in Cohuna, which is still on the Murray.

 

Here we go.

 

B:  R Henshaw, North Albury. (Though his family is from Corowa), B McKenzie, Corowa/Rutherglen. P Ryan, Yarrawonga.

 

HB: D Henderson, Corowa/Rutherglen. G Farrant, Cohuna. P O’Donoghue, Corowa.

 

C: J Perry, Wodonga. P Chisnall, Corowa. M , O’Donoghue, Corowa/Rutherglen.

 

HF: D Pretty, Wodonga. P Baker, Albury. D Teague, Corowa/Rutherglen.

 

F: H McIntosh, Wodonga Raiders. J Longmire, Corowa/Rutherglen. P Spargo, Albury.

 

Foll: J Duthie, Albury. X Tanner, Wodonga. V Doolan, Wodonga.

 

Res: M Hilton, North Albury. D Farrant, Cohuna.

 

 

Not a a bad side if I say so myself. Feedback; thoughts?

 

Glen!

 

Comments

  1. Wayne Carey came to the Shinboners from North Adelaide but was originally from Albury

  2. OOps that might have been Wagga Wagga on reflection ….

  3. Phillip Dimitriadis says

    Bit niche for me Glen ! Fine effort to keep it so contained. Whatever happened to Stimorol – The Sportsman’s gum?

  4. Spot on Gerry, Wayne Carey came from Wagga, on the Murrumbidgee.

    Phil, the correlation with Stimorol? Please explain.

    Glen!

  5. The bottom of the footy card Glen

  6. Sorry Gerry my minds fading with time. Even reading it on ‘Horses’ card makes me none the wiser.

    Glen!

  7. Great team, Glen!

    It goes to show just how strong some of those zones were

  8. I know they are precluded from your selection criteria, but we also got plenty of players from a little further south of the Murray.
    Anthony Stevens (Waaia),
    Mick Nolan, John Byrne (Wangaratta)
    etc etc

  9. Rocket Singers says

    Good work Glen!

    You do like those Corowa boys!

    I see you’ve picked your all-time favourite Peter Chisnall in the centre and Pud O’Donoghue on the wing.

  10. Rocket Singers says

    Wayne Carey from North Wagga – the “North Shore” of the Murrumbidgee…

  11. Ta folks.

    Yep Rocket, i must keep the Chisnall, O’Donoghue link close. The Houlihan part of the family equation sadly didn’t have any one pull on a senior North Melbourne jumper.

    I’m trying to compile my all time best North Melbourne side from the Riverina but can only put 17 players down. This is including players from Ariah Park, Ganmain and Jerilderie. I’l plug away on it.

    Glen!

  12. Rocket Singers says

    A North Melbourne side from the Riverina…
    17 players is a pretty good effort to date.

    Presumably you’ve got Tom & Mike Quade from APM and Mick Dowdle from Jerilderie….
    There’s a good piece on Pat Quade slated for this weekend’s AFL Record.
    He didn’t go to the VFL/AFL.

    Are you going to include the Hume league as Riverina?
    In that case you could select Max Ritchie from Culcairn.

  13. G’day Rocket.

    The Quade brothers from Ariah Park,and Mickey Dowdle were definite starters.

    Max Ritchie hey? That takes it to 18. Almost there.

    The team is open to any one from that South Western corner NSW, who went to Arden St. Wayne Carey to Paul O’Donoghue, John Duthie to Frank Gumbleton, with all between. It remains a work in progress.

    Glen!

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