General News
5 July, 2024
Fitzgerald's AFL game plan
By ANDREW MOLE HE ABSOLUTELY would, if he even remotely could. But, finally, after an insanely ambitious comeback at age 40, Lincoln Fitzgerald’s brain caught up with his body and got the message. And the decision took just two games. Although the...
By ANDREW MOLE
HE ABSOLUTELY would, if he even remotely could.
But, finally, after an insanely ambitious comeback at age 40, Lincoln Fitzgerald’s brain caught up with his body and got the message.
And the decision took just two games.
Although the newly-appointed AFL Central Victoria regional councillor was saved the ignominy of a public admission he was past his due-by date – by the end of the 2023 season – allowing him to slip off quietly into the anonymity of the off season.
Even he admits (with a wry grin) he was glad his comeback started two weeks before that season end, rather than the other end of the year.
“I played all my junior footy at Harcourt before moving to Castlemaine for my senior years and have always maintained a strong interest in the game there,” Fitzgerald says.
“And like a lot of clubs, I knew they were struggling for numbers, especially in the reserves, so I thought I was still in pretty good shape, and I should lend a hand,” he added.
“Not the smartest decision I ever made. I spent the first game running around watching the ball go backwards and forwards over my head. I got a few more touches in the second game but thank heavens it was the last.”
Asked how he coped with the post-game ice bath Fitgerald groaned at the memory.
“Ice bath? If there had been one, and if I had got in it, I know I would never have got out again,” he laughed.
But with the painful memories fading into oblivion, Fitzgerald is ready to refocus his football passion on administration.
Bringing a pretty impressive pedigree with him as Loddon Shire chief executive and, before that, as the person in charge of all sport and recreation facilities for the Greater City of Bendigo, gives him a great handle on governance, strategy, finance, and consultation.
A skillset he believes can benefit the game, and he had been looking at something in this area, so when the new positions came up he put in an application.
Inducted three weeks ago, Fitzgerald says he and the other three inaugural councillors replacing what was the regional commission are about to set off on a very fast-track tour of the leagues and clubs with which they will be working.
“Overall our group is a sub-committee of the AFL Victoria board, responsible for one of the nine regions which make up the state,” Fitzgerald explains.
“We can have as many as seven members and we are always looking to recruit a diversity of knowledge so we can all help make our patch as effective, efficient and expanding as possible.
“In too many parts of this region the Millennium Drought kicked off almost 20 years of decline for country clubs but today I reckon we have a pretty good footy story to tell as many towns and areas are growing again, with a lot of employers looking for more staff.”
Fitzgerald says primary roles for the new councillors will be areas such as player points, salary caps, clubs looking to swap leagues or even merge.
The last thing he says he wants to be is a bloke with a big stick.
“We all want to work with the clubs and the leagues, we want to come up with solutions, not our opinions and decisions, and you get solutions by getting everyone to work together,” he added.
“My take is in the 150-plus years of football there has always been change and at any given moment a lot of clubs and leagues have different priorities.
“Right now that includes some clubs growing very fast, maybe too fast, some wanting to maintain the status quo and some barely hanging on – and you could probably find those same challenges at any point in the game’s history.
“So I am pretty sure everyone recognises change will be needed to keep the game growing.”
Fitzgerald says the other value of the new councillors is their understanding of regional football. He says in metro leagues it is just football, but out here it’s football, it’s netball and, in several cases, hockey too.
Then there are challenges such as Newbridge playing the first half of a season on the road after its home ground was flooded. Things metropolitan administrators probably would not realise.
Oh, yes, about those two comeback games. Fitzgerald’s team got belted both times.
“But you are a long time retired, and I really had wondered,” he sighs. “But not anymore. Never got a flag, but did play in a grand final, which is a shame, but yes, I’m done.”