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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-09-07 Daily Xml
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Mawson Electorate Community Sport

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (15:44): This is a great time of year to be out and about in our communities at local footy and netball finals. On the weekend, I was on Kangaroo Island for the grand finals of both the netball and football competitions. It was terrific to see the level of competition going on. In the netball, I reckon Parndana probably took most of the titles on the day, but also Wisanger and Wonks had a few wins as well. That was great.

Out on the footy field, it was an amazing effort by one particular family, the Florance family. The two sons, 13-year-old Kane and 15-year-old Blake, took the field in the Colts and won a premiership. They had the medals around their neck, and then they had to jump off the back of a truck, give the medals to their mum and go out and play alongside their dad, Dan Florance, in the B-grade premiership, where they won another flag.

Many people go their entire lives without winning a premiership, but these young fellows, 13 and 15, won two flags within about two hours of each other. Five of the Colts players also went on to play in that B-grade premiership for the Kingscote Hounds—the mighty Hounds—the favourite team of Dusty, the Kangaroo Island kelpie.

What made it even more remarkable was that 13-year-old Cain had taken out the best and fairest medal in the whole league for the B-grade competition. He is 13 years old. His brother was best on ground in the Colts and his dad was best on ground in the B-grade. They all had medals but, not to be outdone, their mum, Jasmin, won the best sportsperson award in the netball league as well. The Florance family is a very talented family.

The thing about footy on Kangaroo Island—footy and netball—is that there are only 4½ thousand people on the island, yet they sustain five clubs. Nearly everyone on the island—even some who are getting a bit long in the tooth and maybe some who are not as svelte as they once were—pulls on the boots and gets out there each week and plays footy or netball because that is such a big part of the community. They have modified the rules a little bit so that in footy there are 16 people on the ground each time because, during a long winter, it covers for injuries and lack of players.

Interestingly, this year, given there are five clubs, when the lockdown happened and we lost two weeks of footy, there was one round due to be completed when football was allowed to be played again. The Kangaroo Island Football League decided that, instead of playing that one round—which would have thrown out how many clubs had played each other during the season—they said, 'We'll go straight into finals.' They said, 'We will have a final five instead of a final four,' but there are only five clubs in the competition, so everyone made the finals this year, including Western Districts, who finished bottom, with just one win for the whole year.

The reigning premiers from 2019 competition made the finals because there was no 2020 comp because of COVID, bushfires and everything else. The reigning premiers from 2019, having won one game, won the first final, the second final, the third final and they then went up against Wisanger in the grand final on Saturday. They could not quite get there. As much as everyone loves the Wonks, because they lost their clubrooms in the bushfires and they are a great bunch of people, people were pretty happy that Wisanger—the Panthers—won their first flag since 2005. They broke the drought, and I think people were pretty happy.

The next morning, I was at McLaren Vale Oval, home of the McLaren Eagles, to watch the grand final between the Mini Colts. There were some amazing displays of talent. I have watched these kids a bit during the year and they kick long, they kick to position and they have very good eyes and great talent. Without doubt, Dylan Mitton was best on ground. We saw a young Jessie Ellis have a good game as well, and it was terrific that they won the flag over Strathalbyn.

There are more finals this week, preliminary finals. Willunga has made all four finals and, in the A-grade and the B-grade, they will be up against the McLaren Eagles, so that is bigger than a Port versus Crows showdown. That is going to be really interesting down at Encounter Bay to see who gets a grand final berth. And to the mighty South Adelaide footy club, it has been a long time—1964 since you won your last flag. All the very best in your final against North Adelaide on Sunday. As Mike Rann used to say, 'Go Panthers!'

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