Culcairn and Holbrook Football-Netball Clubs paid their respects to Peter Copley with a minute's silence before the senior match at Culcairn on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Players from the seniors and reserves and netballers were all part of the tribute to the premiership coach.
Copley, who coached both clubs to flags in the early 1990s, passed away suddenly this week while on holiday in Portugal.
The 62-year-old led the Brookers to the flag in the TDFL in 1991 before joining Culcairn in 1993 to become the Lions' first premiership coach in the Hume league.
He also won the Azzi medal and Culcairn's best and fairest in his only season at the Lions den before accepting the coaching position at Wodonga Raiders in 1994.
Both clubs also wore black armbands in a further tribute to Copley.
Culcairn players also wore an additional black armband to pay respect to the recent passing of triple premiership player Ray Schultz who passed away earlier this month, aged 99.
The Brookers put their stamp on the match early, booting five goals to one in the opening term on their way to a dominant 17.15 (117) to 8.5 (53) victory.
In an ominous sign, the Brookers moved to second spot on the ladder after Lockhart sprung an upset against Jindera at home.
Will Holmes ran riot in the midfield for the visitors as he regained form and match-fitness after missing the first six rounds as he recovered from a broken leg suffered last year.
Spearhead Luke Gestier booted four goals with Jett Liddell, Hayden Smith, Kieren McCarthy, and Cody Hewat also solid performers.
In a further bonus for the Brookers, former junior Coby Ross played reserves after recently gaining a clearance back home after a stint with Wollongong Bulldogs.
Ross was a senior regular for the Brookers in 2021 as a clever small forward before relocating to Wollongong.
Premiership coach Matt Sharp also played his second match in the reserves and could provide the Brookers with an X-factor in the countdown to finals if he can get his body right.
Culcairn had one of its strongest line-ups so far this season with Ben and Lachlan Gould alongside Riley Knobel among the home sides best.
Brookers co-coach Andrew Mackinlay was happy with the skill-level of his side in what was the first wet weather match of the season so far.
"Even though it was fairly wet conditions, I was pretty happy with the way we moved the footy," Mackinlay said.
"The Culcairn ground is probably a similar size to Walbundrie, so we were trying to emulate a similar style that we want to execute at Walbundrie.
"To Culcairn's credit, they weren't easybeats and their top half-a-dozen players are handy footballers.
"They certainly had the momentum at different stages throughout the match but we were able to withstand that.
"Most importantly we came through unscathed on the injury front and looking forward to having another crack at Jindera this weekend who beat us in the opening round when we last met."
Mackinlay said the form of Holmes is another bonus after the Azzi medallist returned to his junior club this season after two-years away.
"Will is starting to hit his straps and is starting to peak at the right time of the year," he said.
"I'm fairly excited to see what he can do over the next couple of months.
"This sounds weird because he is an Azzi medallist but he has probably flown under the radar a little bit since he returned this season.
"But sides will have to start paying a bit more attention to him now in the sort of form that he is in."
