Frankston Dolphins

Good to see them get a much deserved win the other day. Before you think I'm having a shot at them Dolphin, serious question. In Inside Football this week it says they had only the runner on the bench the other day. I know you have a few injuries down there. What happens in that situation (say what will you do for this week) - do you get top ups from local clubs or can you get Dandenong Stingrays players to come in and help? Can you shed any light what the rule is if you are still short this week?

I am looking forward to travelling down to Hobart for the 1st time on Sunday. Should be a great game at Bellerive Oval. Frankston 1 win and 1 loss and Tasmania winless it is an important game for both teams. Early weather forecast for Sunday is cloudy and a top of 18 degress. Hopefully the dolphins can come away with the win and make it a great trip back on Sunday night. Anyone else making the trip south?

From frankstonfc.com.au Frankston 13.13-91 defeated North Ballarat 9.7-61 A great start to the season with a win on the road out west. Not the best of conditions with a strong wind for most of the day and some heavy rain from time to time. Going in to the game without the two key forwards recruited over the summer in Nick Benbow (Peel Thunder) and Luke Molan (Melbourne) was always going to be tough. Then when the other key position/ruck recruit, big Matt Skeehan from Cheltenham hobbled off with a hammy in the first 5 minutes. Hard work all day was the result and it paid off with a superb effort from the men on the ground. A great day out for James McCormack and Byron Murphy who had it all day, and a super human effort from Daniel Clarke to ruck pretty much single handed for the whole day against Mark Porter. Nth Ballarat's big name recruit must have wondered what had hit him and could barely lift his legs at the end of the game. Big Norm was still at it in the end and his ruckwork out of the centre bounces was the differance when the game had to be won. The bye next week then bring on SANDY!!

The following is the list as provided by the club. A few interesting names there. 23 - ABLETT , Michael 1 - ANSTEY , Sam 36 - BARRAND , Daniel 2 - BARRY , Byron 7 - BEASY , Ashley 38 - BERRY , Justin 13 - BLACK , Craig 48 - BOURKE , Adam 25 - BROWN , Gerard 8 - BUTLER , Pat 35 - CADD , Patrick 22 - CLARKE , Daniel Vice Captain 29 - DOWNIE , Shane 21 - FORTNAM , Chris 40 - GEORGIOS , Phillip 10 - GODDARD , Ben 9 - GOLDSACK , Jared 31 - GOTCH , Shane 19 - GREENSTREET , Peter 15 - HYNES , John Co-Captain 3 - KEMPERMAN , Stewart 33 - LOUREY , Adam 28 - MARIGLIANI , Marcus 56 - MATHESON , Philip 34 - McCORMACK , James 11 - MURPHY , Byron 16 - ODELL , Chris 4 - PHIBBS , Ben 20 - POLLARD , Shaun 24 - ROBERTS , Ash Co-Captain 5 - ROBERTSON , Glen 27 - TAYLOR , Kane 39 - ULMS , Brad 32 - WINTERTON , Neil - New Players , 53 - ARAVANIS , Michael Hoppers Crossing 41 - BARRY , Anthony Karingal 30 - BENBOW , Nick Doveton-Peel Thunder 49 - BRENNAN , Dave Pen. Old Boys 37 - BURNS , Mathew Sorrento/Stingrays 52 - COGHLAN , Jie Frankston YCW 47 - DUNNE , Brendan Pen. Old Boys 6 - FALOVIC , Rudi Boronia 26 - MALLOY , Bevan Karingal/Dolphins 46 - MIZZI , Darren Boxhill/Stingrays 14 - MOLAN , Luke Melbourne 43 - MORRIS , Rick Pearcedale/Stingrays 51 - OLSON , Justin Springvale/Beaconsfield 42 - ONGARELLO , Chistian Stingrays 17 - PAXINO , Chris Mornington 45 - PETRACCA , Matthew Ferntree Gully 18 - RANSOM , John Tyabb/Fremantle 50 - ROWLANDS , Cameron Frankston YCW 44 - SHILTON , Andrew Cheltenham 12 - SKEHAN , Matthew Cheltenham

Does anyone know weather Frankstons' home games are , as listed in the draw , or no home games in the first half of season because of ground works.

The practice match for this coming Saturday has been moved from Sebastopol to Learmonth. I am told this is about 10 mins further on.

The word from the club is that Michael Ablett has decided to give football away, as well as the rest of his life, to persue other interests in the US. There are times, I suppose when the heart (or other organs) leads the head, but that is what he has decided to do. The club, and especially his cloise teammates were taken by surpirse, and nobody had any idea that this was on. By the time he told anyone, club, family, work, etc, he had booked his ticket and was about to go. Not much anybody can do about things like this, so the club will just move on. Who knows what might happen after his 45 days in Vegas.

News from the Frankston AGM last week. The work on the gound is progressing a little slowly after a muck up by the Council in getting approval from Melb Water. Have picked up their game of late and is now progressing well. The playing surface has been totally reformed and new drainage and irrigation structures have been installed and the grass goes in on 21st Dec (it did today!) The plans for the rest of the summer are for the terraces to be fully sealed, and the grandstand to be restored to its previous glory(?) with upgraded visitors rooms. These upgrades will put the facilities for both the home, as well as the visiting clubs above anything else in the competition (with the possible exeption of some Tassie venues) All up, the budget for the upgrade is around $1.2 million and the club is grateful to the Council for finally coming to the party on the ground. The club was not happy with the outcome from the past few years but feels that the future looks rosey on the playing side, and with some hard work, (and a little help) the club will remain financially sound. The final event surrounded the election of a new president. Jay McGrath got the nod unopposed and said that he saw a solid future if the plans fell in to place. He said that there would be anouncements on the signing of 3 or 4 solid recruits in the next week or so, as well as some other community initiatives. So there you go.

Here is an article from this weeks Frankston/Hastings Leader Frankston's only AFL-experienced player, Andrew Shipp has the left the VFL Club. The ex-Fremantle Docker had been missing training sessions owing to work and coach Brett Lovett told him he would be playing in the reserves until he could get back on the track. Believing his circumstances would not change, Shipp has decided to play out the season at his former club, Gembook. "It was one of those years for him," Lovett said of the classy right-footer. "He got crook and couldn't do much of the pre-season, then he was coping injuries, then he couldn't get on the track because of his job. I'm pretty big on having everyone do the work and 'Shippy' couldn't do it."

Injuries