The Werribee Football Club has a distinct difference from any other club in the VFL. It’s a destination club, purely for a geographical reason. You need to travel to get there.

This wasn’t always the case. Since it’s inception in 1965, the club was situated in a desolate windswept landscape between Melbourne and Geelong and was made up of pretty much all local players.

This changed quite dramatically in 1989 when the VFA’s Second Division was disbanded and WFC was thrown into Division 1.

In 1988 the only Geelong based players I remember were club champions Michael McMaster and  Stephen Sells, who took out the last Field Medal for the Second Division Best & Fairest. Everyone else was a local.

In 1989 there was an large influx of Geelong players that arrived on the back of coach Michael Turner, the former Geelong champion. There were a few duds who didn’t stay long as there always is, but there were some guns such as Nick Walsh, Greg Chapman, Mick Higgins and Terry Domburg.

When Leon Harris, Bernie Sheehy and Damian Drum arrived in 1990 for the next three years, footy suddenly got serious and more emphasis was put into recruiting outsiders.

We had very strong U/19s who took out a couple of premierships and perhaps more time could have been spent developing a few more of those talented kids. Some like Peter Williams, Andrew Button and Mick Havard came through but most moved on.

Ultimately the club was desperate to win it’s first flag so more outsiders were brought in such as Neale Daniher, Darren Morgan, Anthony Eames, Richard Geary, David Allday and others. Most of the locals languished in the seconds and it started an exodus of players ‘morphing’ into other leagues.

All of those aforementioned players gave enormous service to the club and contributed to our first grand final appearance in 1991. Leon’s reign brought new levels of professionalism and he certainly set us up to have a serious crack in 1993 when the baton was passed on to the wonderful Donald McDonald who took the club to two grand finals.

I sometimes feel that as a past players family, many local past players from 1965-1988 find it difficult to feel connected and haven’t returned as a result. I wish it wasn’t the case because when I arrived as an outsider in 1988, I met team mates who are some of my best friends to this day.

Whenever we have a reunion I’m always nervous hoping someone will still recognise me in middle age but it never takes long to latch on to a familiar face and the laughs begin.

As I mentioned, we are an odd club. Whoever plays at WFC must overcome some adversity just getting to AAO or Chirnside Park.

Fortunately for today’s players when they arrive, they no longer have to deal with a shoebox for a change-room or one rancid dunny and a tiny urinal to share amongst three teams on game day!

Instead they have the best facilities in the VFL and so they should especially after living out of shipping containers in 2017/2018. If you haven’t been inside the new rooms, just ask someone for a tour.

Now that we are coming out of a horror couple of years it would be fantastic to see more past players at games in 2022 and not just at reunions, especially those who live locally.

It would be great to see some of the players from the 70’s to accompany Ken Beales and co and personally I’d love to see some more players from 1980-2017 era when we really shone, despite at times having to deal with near bankruptcy and painful AFL alignments .

A past players membership will cost you $60, same as a carton of beer and you’ll see all home games as well as half price away games. Check out the website for details.
https://shop.werribeefc.com.au/club-memberships/

Today, the club is heavily focussed on the development of young local players which is exciting. We have new captains in Dom Brew and Tom Gribble who are reaching their prime in the next few years and will drag the kids up with them. They are ably supported by multiple Club Champion Matt Hanson.

They have taken over from Sods who did an amazing job through all sorts of adversity. For the past ten years he’s driven up from Geelong to train and play, a remarkable achievement on its own.

Our club is now strongly connected to the local community, something that was lacking in the old days. We can now feel proud of how the club is working with what is the fastest population growth corridor in the state.

The brilliant boutique stadium along with  Chirnsides By The River is the perfect spot for a drink and to watch the game. Also the bulk of the club’s memorabilia is upstairs on the walls if you would like to see your old team photos.

We’re not getting any younger friends! Catching up with old faces you spent an inordinate amount of time with during your footy career, is enriching and great fun.

Hope to see you at some games in 2022. Go Tiges!