Remember when? Round 17
With finals almost upon us this week, we go back to the year of 2007 when a long premiership drought was broken in football and North Albury landed its third netball premiership.
The 2007 grand final will be remembered for many things – its fiery nature and brawling, a 31-year premiership drought ending for Wangaratta, and the courage of Magpies midfielder Jon McCormick.
McCormick made a remarkable return to the playing field on grand final day after cracking a collarbone six weeks earlier in round 17. McCormick in the previous week sat the entire preliminary final on the bench watching on as the Magpies defeated Wodonga by 34 points.
The following evening, McCormick polled 24 votes to take out the Morris medal – five clear of Lavington’s Kade Stevens and a further vote to third placed Jacob Ryan (Cor-Ruth). McCormick was returning to football after missing 18 months due to a knee injury, that almost certainly cost him the 2005 Morris medal where he had polled 18 votes in 10 matches before injury.
McCormick turned heads on Morris medal night with his attire – a flannelette shirt, trousers and runners. He later explained he hadn’t been before and was surprised how formal the night was!
The grand final in front of 15,442 spectators erupted when McCormick entered the ground seven minutes into the match as North Albury pounded the star midfielder with several late hits – each time he rose to his feet inspiring his teammates to a 51-point victory, with Ed Clarke named the Did Simpson medallist for best afield. McCormick racked up 30 possessions.
Wangaratta Rovers beat Albury in the seconds decider, and Wodonga easily beat Wangaratta in the thirds. Carl Norton from Wangaratta won the Leo Burke seconds B&F, while in the thirds it was a tie between Zac O’Brien (Rovers) and Brent Olsen (Wodonga).
North Albury did get a senior premiership when the Hopper girls overturned two late season defeats by Yarrawonga to take its first premiership since 1999 43-37 after leading at half time by two goals. Most Valuable Player award went to 17 yr old shooter Breda O’Kane who shot 33 goals. The previous week North Albury had defeated Wodonga in the preliminary final. Wodonga took out the B Grade premiership and North Albury made it four in a row in C Grade.
The Toni Wilson Medal for 2007 was shared between 2005 winner Stacey Emms (Wangaratta Rovers) and Myrtleford’s Rebecca Morrison with 22 votes. Mel Donkers from Wodonga took out the B Grade, while the C Grade was won by Rovers Simone Coote.
