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VFL Rewind Radio Program, Whitehorse Road, Box Hill (2026)

22/10/2026

The lost Country Clubs of the VFL. Bendigo Ballarat Murray Kangaroos Traralgon

After the VFA (Now VFL) went from 24 clubs in the mid 80’s to just 9 in the mid 90’s it was decided to go a different angle for the VFL and that was to the country.

The first two clubs to join were Traralgon & North Ballarat in 1996. Both clubs had been persuaded to join the VFL after being powerhouses in the Ballarat & Gippsland Football Leagues.

For Traralgon in their first season they finished 11th with just one win. North Ballarat finished in 8th.

For 1997 both teams would compete again in the VFL with Traralgon winning 3 games in their second season. Traralgon made the decision to leave the VFL after just two seasons.

Sadly they didn’t get the support in the Gippsland area and in hindsight potentially a team named Gippsland with no link to Traralgon may have had more success in gaining support from the community.

To start the 1998 season Bendigo Diggers had joined the VFL. The diggers played at the QEO and wore navy and gold jumpers. In their first year they finished 10th.

The North Ballarat Roosters made the finals in 1998 and really started to take the lead as the strong Country club in the VFL.

As the 2000 season rolled around and the AFL and VFL merging the bold move by North Melbourne was to create a new team called the Murray Kangaroos. The club split games between Albury & Coburg and utilised young talent in the O&M league to build a solid list.

North Ballarat made the grand final in 2000.
Tasmania joined the VFL as a interstate club in 2001 which was also exciting. They got great crowds before folding,

At the end of 2002 Murray Kangaroos folded as a club.

After going on a 50+ game losing streak Bendigo Diggers made the decision to merge with Essendon and be known as the Bendigo Bombers.

After that it was Ballarat leading the way as the sole country club in the VFL and they won 3 VFL premierships in a row.

Bendigo Split from Essendon in 2013 and went back to being caller Bendigo Gold. They sadly didnt get the support they deserved from thr Bendigo Community and left the VFL at the end of 2014.

North Ballarat left at the end of 2017 in an odd way. They had millions in the bank but decided not to continue.

The country era was an exciting time. In hindsight the local clubs gave Bendigo, Traralgon & Murray not enough support to continue with didn’t help their demise.

Hopefully in 2026 we continue to see VFL games head back to the country like 2025 when we seen games in Albury & Wonthaggi

21/10/2026

Kevin Bartlett - 403 AFL Games. 5 AFL time Premiership player. 5 Richmond BNF’s. Norm Smith Medal. Richmond Legend.

5th all time for most VFL/AFL games played.

KB is a legend player and person. From his glory days at Richmond to his great work on Sen for over a decade KB always did things his way and had some fun along the way.

He made his AFL debut in 1965 and by 1967 kicked 30+ goals for the first time. Between 1987-1983 he would kick 30+ goals every season except 1976. A pretty handy stat for a small forward/midfielder

He won his first Richmond best and fairest in 1967 and would win 4 more over his career including the bnf and premiership double in 1973 and 1974.

His 5 Richmond premierships is a record not many have. In his last premiership in 1980 he was the best player on the ground and won the Norm Smith medal.
He may have been 33 but he was at his peak, nobody could stop him that day.

He kicked 6+ goals 11 times in his career and had 37+ possessions in a game 12 times. Remarkable stats for an era when disposal numbers of today.

What’s even more remarkable about that stat is KB wasn’t a fan of the handball. He only had 10+ handballs in a game twice! Not like these days were the elite midfielders have more handballs that kicks in a lot of games.

KB was made captain in 1979 of his beloved tigers
He won the Richmond leading Goalkicker award 5 times and in 1980 kicked 84 goals.

He played his 400th game in 1983 vs Collingwood and played his 403rd and all time games record match v Fitzroy in 1983. He retired a Richmond legend.

KB came back and coached the club from 88-91 and then moved into the media where he was a regular for 30+ years.

Inducted into the Richmond team of the century and a legend of the Football hall of fame Kevin Bartlett is undoubtedly a legend of our great game.

21/10/2026

Dean Cox 290 AFL games. 6 time all Australian. AFL premiership player. The 5th midfielder. West Coast eagles best and fairest winner. One of the great ruckman of the last 25 years.

Dean Cox was the modern day Athlete ruckman who at times was called West Coast eagles 5th midfielder. He was named all Australian 6 times played 290 games and played 290 AFL games and was rickman in the 2006 West coast premiership. Dean had 25+ disposals 18 times. A middle day rucking great.

Dean arrived at West Coast from Dampier in Western Australia and worked hard, extremely hard to build his fitness base. It’s an amazing story in itself his transformation from a young hopeful to a champion.

From when he made his debut in 2001 he never looked back playing 17+ games every year besides 2009 until he retired in 2014.

He was early anointed the number 1 ruck role and him and Micky Gardiner worked well together.

Dean was essentially a 5th midfielder. His tank to get around the ground took his game to another level that other ruckman couldn’t match.

His performance in the 2005 & 2006 grand finals were elite.

He stood up when he was needed and won the flag in 2006.

After being named all Australian 6 times Dean retired on 290 AFL games in 2014 at just 33.

He went onto coaching and has done extremely well pushing the Sydney swans up the ladder

Well done on an amazing career as a player Dean.

20/10/2026

VFA/VFL 150 year milestone next year. What celebrations of the moment would you like to see the VFL do?
Here’s some ideas
* Commemorative jumper logo to make the occasion. Like the AFL did for its centenary in 1996 it’s worth acknowledging the milestone

* A round where all the “Rivals” play each other to signify the milestone. Port V Williamstown. Carlton v Collingwood, let’s relive the great motorise of 150 years.

* MCG grand final. Let’s really honour the occasion with a one off MCG 2027 VFL grand final.

* Gala Dinner to signify the moment. Invite all former greats along to reminisce on 150 years

It’s going to be an absolutely huge 12 months and the more things that can acknowledge the milestone the better.

20/10/2026

Craig Bradley. 464 AFL & SANFL Games. 7 Time All Australian. 6 BNF’s. 2 AFL Premierships. Legend. State cricketer for Victoria & SA

Craig was a talented player for South Australia Redbacks in cricket. Craig played first class cricket for South Australia and Also Victoria and is player #728 to have played for Victoria amazingly playing Sheffield shield and AFL at the same time.
From a football perspective Craig went on to be a 2 time premiership player at Carlton and play 375 games. 4 time all Australian and 3 Carlton best and fairest’s.

Craig arrived at Carlton in 1986 and in his 2nd year won the AFL premiership.
He was the last to play AFL and Sheffield shield at the same time.

Craig is named in the Carlton team of the century on the wing and was captain of Carlton for 3 years.

Carlton elevated Craig to Legend status in their Hall Of Fame.

He concentrated on footy and have an extremely successful career playing for just under 21 years as a footballer at SANFL and AFL level.

Craig was elite at finding the footy. In an era when it wasn’t as common to have 30+ disposals Craig was regularly doing it 51 times at AFL level in his career.
At 38 in 2002 Craig retired from the AFL and ironically it was against his original club Port Adelaide. He went out on a high having 30 disposals and kicking a goal.

One of the seriously good footballers who was handy at cricket too and most importantly a very good man too. Well done Craig Bradley on an amazing career.

19/10/2026

The Original Geelong at Kardinia Park. Geelong Association Football Club

When we talk about the history of Geelong Football club which plays in the now AFL many think they’ve called Kardinia Park home since the 1860’s and been the only major league club in Geelong. That’s not the case.

Geelong’s biggest rival through this era was its cross town rival in a different league.

Geelong Association was the original tenants of Kardinia Park.
The VFA was expanding. After losing a host of clubs to the now AFL between 1897-1925 they needed to embark on an expansion themselves to compensate the losses.

The VFA was primarily an inner city competition in the 1900’s but the VFA’s decision in 1922 was bold and exciting.

Essendon association had just left the VFA with Essendon AFL club moving to windy hill from east Melbourne cricket ground.

A key part of Geelong In Historical Pictures history thus club and one many didn’t know existed.

The VFA decided to grant Geelong Association a license to play in the VFA. The club had been given Kardinia park as their home ground which had been recently developed.

It meant the town of Geelong had two major club. Geelong Cats in the now AFL and Geelong association in the VFA now VFL.

Geelong cats played at Corio oval which meant Geelong association had Kardinia park to themselves.

The club in its first season won just two games and won two again in 1923.

The town of Geelong supported the new team but not to the numbers needed to sustain growth. In 1925 the VFA lost Hawthorn North Melbourne & Footscray leaving just 8 teams in the VFA.

Geelong won the wooden spoon in 1925 and would win it again in 1927.

Due to dwindling crowds the club moved to Western oval at Geelong West in 1926.

At the end of 1927 it was decided Geelong association football club would fold. Withdrawing from the VFA and ceasing to exist. With Yarraville taking their place the next season.

Geelong AFL would continue to play at Corio Oval for another 13 years moving to Kardinia Park in 1941.

It’s a unique story of the Original Geelong at Kardinia Park

18/10/2026

Shaun Rehn - 167 AFL games. 2 Time premiership player. Given the last spot on Adelaide Crows list & the #52 Jumper and went on to become one of the best Ruckman in the AFL of the 90’s.

It all happened so quick for Shaun Rehn. He made his SANFL debut in 1990 playing two games, 12 months later he was on a AFL list.

He made his debut in round 18 1991 and by the last round of the year he was playing good footy collecting 24 disposals and 20 hitouts v North Melbourne.

Shaun played 20 games in 1992 and really turned himself in an attacking ruckman who could also get good disposal numbers having 6 games of 20+ disposals in 92.

Another fantastic season in 1993 was beaten by an even better 1994. Shaun was named All Australian and was brilliant averaging 18 disposals a game.
People often talk about Dean Cox as Being the one that changed the way ruckman played but Shaun Rehn was doing it a decade earlier just as good.
Shaun also won the Best and fairest in 1994.

1995 & 1996 were two of the most challenging years of Shaun’s career only playing 6 games due to injury

1997 is when things started to click for the crows. Rehnny returned in round 5 and the crows started to play some good footy.
In the 1997 finals series Shaun averaged 16 disposals a game and back at his best. In the premiership he played brilliantly.

1998 the crows went back to back and Shaun was in sublime form being named in the All Australian team again and lifting the premiership up. Over the season he averaged 17 disposals a game and one game that stands out was vs Hawthorn where he had 31 disposals and 37 hitouts.

Sadly once again Shaun got injured and missed all of 1999. He returned in 2000 and played 16 games before being traded to Hawthorn and playing two good seasons. Shaun retired at 31 after a great football career.
At his best few could match it with Shaun Rehn. He was a brilliant Ruckman.
Thanks for all you gave to footy Shaun

18/10/2026

Box Hill City Oval Redevelopment Update 18th October. That Grandstand is a monster. It’s really starting to take shape and will be done by next year. It’s going to be well worth the wait.
Hawthorn & Box Hill AFL and VFL players will have first class facilities in Dingley & Box Hill.

It’s a truly great story. 30 years on from when Hawthorn almost Merged and Box Hill was always known as strugglers in the old VFA days with poor results and poor facilities it’s amazing they will open this facility as Reigning VFL premiers.

Two great clubs in Box Hill & Hawthorn who are the benchmark of the AFL & VFL on and off the field.

18/10/2026

Brent Harvey - 432 games 518 goals, AFL Premiership player. 4 time All Australian. Best on ground for Victoria winning the EJ Whitten Medal.

Brent is a northern suburbs boy through and through. Born in Preston and playing juniors for Preston RSL FC before going on to Preston Knights in the TAC Cup.
North Melbourne selected Brent with pick 47 in the 95 draft.

He made his debut in 96 and played in the AFL reserves premiership and by 97 was a regular senior player playing 17 games including the prelim final. In 98 Brent played 23 games including the 98 grand final loss

1999 was a great individual year for Brent, winning the EJ Whitten medal for best on ground in the state game and played in the 1999 AFL premiership. Brent has 21 disposals in the premiership win
Brent went on a run of North Melbourne Best and fairest wins winning in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2008 & 2010
In 2010 Brent played his 300th game vs West Coast

Brent Harvey turned himself from a small forward into a damaging midfielder as his career went on and a prime example of this is Brent having 27 disposals and kicking 2 goals in his 400th game

When Brent broke the AFL games record he had 24 disposals and kicked a goal in 6th last game.
To say Brent crawled to the line is far from correct, in Brent’s last 6 games he had
24,20,20,32,26,25 disposals.

He was a superstar and knew how to find the footy.
One of the great footy careers and great People of our game.
Boomer thank you for all you’ve given to football.

16/10/2026

Luke Power 302 games. 3 AFL Premierships.. All Australian. Old Fitzroy Fan. One of the Lions greats.

Luke Power was a Roy Boy, a Fitzroy supporter who got to pull on the fitzroy jumper for the club he loved.
He loved the Roy’s and ended up becoming involved after Brisbane took over Fitzroy.

Luke arrived at Brisbane with pick 5 in the AFL draft. Things were starting to turn at Brisbane.

As the bears they struggled on and off the field but things were turning and by 1995 they had started to put in some good performances.

Luke made his debut in 1998 and kicked 3 goals on debut

By 2000 Luke had really turned himself in a goalkicking small forward when he had a great year on reflection in an unconventional role to what we know Luke played as.
In 2000 Luke kicked 52 goals including a bag of 6 and two games of 5 goals.

In 2001 Brisbane won the AFL premiership. Their first of 3. Luke kicked 3 goals in the premiership.
2002 & 2003 the premierships came again and Luke played in both
Luke started to play more as a midfielder and by 2004 he was named in the All Australian team.

Luke was captain of Brisbane in 2007 and 2008.

After 2004 luke had 400+ disposals in every season until 2011.

At the end of 2011 GWS made a play to sign Luke and he eventually crossed to GWS for one final season as captain of the club.

Regarded by Both Brisbane & GWS fans and a fan favourite and admired for the way he went about it, thank you Luke Power for all you gave to footy on the field.

VFL Rewind Radio Program

22/10/2026

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