Sport
17 April, 2026
Tiger's big week of anticipation
THE PUB at Macorna burned down years ago and hasn’t been rebuilt, and the community hall is now a private residence.
The population is less than 100 people, but the locals gathered at the football and netball clubrooms in the week leading up to the Tigers’ first match in a new league last Saturday, full of anticipation.
The clubrooms, president Tenielle Edge says, are the de facto community centre for Macorna and they were frantically busy as round one of the Loddon Valley league season approached.
The prevailing emotions were a mix of nervousness and excitement.
“Some people didn’t even know where they were travelling to, they hadn’t been to the Maiden Gully ground before,” Edge said. “As much as we were excited about it, I think we were definitely nervous.
“It was about getting our first game out of the way and feeling comfortable in our new home.”
A 45-point win tends to soothe the nerves, but Edge said that before the game she had no idea what the club was up against.
Her commitments with Macorna in the Golden Rivers league meant she had not seen a Loddon Valley game for years.
That’s where the appointment of Fergus Payne as coach was critical, in Edge’s view.
The former Inglewood coach knows the league and its clubs and could help clear some of the uncertainty Macorna people were feeling.
Payne said the feeling around the playing group at training before the Maiden Gully match was one of excitement.
“As the coach you don’t always know what the players are saying between themselves, but everyone trained really well and there was a lot of energy around the group.
“And there were plenty of people at Thursday night dinner as well – a mix of family, supporters and obviously footballers and netballers, so the whole club was looking forward to the weekend.”
Macorna was a small and special community, Payne said, with everything revolving around the football netball club. “If you’re not at work, you’re at the footy club.”
Payne said he felt no extra nervousness in the lead up to the match up with the Eagles.
“I actually had them in retrospect, if that makes sense.
“I didn’t really think about it too much until it finished and we had all these people saying, ‘it’s a relief’ and ‘how good’s that’.
“Maybe I should have been a bit more nervous.”
- GARY WALSH
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