General News
27 August, 2025
True Blue - THE LEGEND STEPS UP AGAIN
By GARY WALSH TRUE Blue Darrell Billett is suddenly back in the thick of football as Inglewood pushes its rising Loddon Valley league credentials. The Blues’ legend who forged a reputation as a player, goalkicker, premiership team member and coach...
By GARY WALSH
TRUE Blue Darrell Billett is suddenly back in the thick of football as Inglewood pushes its rising Loddon Valley league credentials.
The Blues’ legend who forged a reputation as a player, goalkicker, premiership team member and coach has again stepped up for the club.
Billett’s key role return this time is as interim president after Tim Birthisel was forced to step down due to ill health.
Approached to become president while in Perth a fortnight ago and despite not being a member of the club committee Billet said he had agreed to accept the responsibility, at least until the AGM in October.
“I’d just got used to not being involved. My wife and I have a van, and we move around during the winter,” he said.
But Billett’s connection to the club of which he is a life member is powerful, and he couldn’t say no at a time of need.
His return has coincided with Inglewood’s best season in decades and saw a stunning win over Bears Lagoon Serpentine last Sunday for its first finals success in 22 years.
The senior team has now won six games on the trot and booked a semi-final meeting with Pyramid Hill this weekend.
The Woodies beat the Bulldogs by 44 points in round 15 and began the season with narrow losses to three-time premiers Marong, Serp and Bridgewater. “There’s no ceiling really, considering how competitive we were at the start of the year,” Billett said.
He first played for the Woodies in 1980: “I had a couple of mates, and we formed a real bond and wanted to play together. We were a close group for a long period of time.”
Apart from a season with South Bendigo in 1983, Billett spent his entire career at Inglewood, and he is a member of the Team of the Century.
He kicked a century of goals on his return to the Loddon Valley league in 1984 and was a member of Inglewood’s last premiership side two years later. Billett played until 1996 when he retired at 35 but was back in the coaching box in 2006 at a time when the club was at a low ebb.
Inglewood didn’t win a game in his first two years as coach but improved in 2008 before Billett stepped down because of family commitments.
He bobbed up as coach again in 2020, a season which was wiped off the map by COVID. Inglewood was again in crisis, losing 52 players and ending the 12-game 2021 season winless.
“We were really decimated at the time, with half a dozen players each week having to play twice,” Billett said.
“We knew it was going to be ordinary.”
Improvement came in 2022, and in 2023 the team returned to the finals, only to lose to Bridgewater in a thrilling elimination final.
Billett then handed the reins to current coach Fergus Payne, who has brought the team back to the finals in his second year.
And the new president said he was happy to “stand back” and let Payne get on with his job, enjoying the ride from the sidelines as Inglewood pushes deeper into Loddon Valley finals action.