John Cortese (middle row, fourth from left) was a star in this unbeaten 1972 team. (Back) John Fitzsimmons Sen (president), Ed Flanagan, Nick Hansen, Kevin Myers, John Fitzsimmons Jun, Michael Pemberton, Rodney Mays, Greg Guiney, Kevin Dickens, Paul Crouch, Kevin Boyle (coach); (middle) Noel Griffen (treasurer), Michael Costa, Dom Ciccerralli, John Cortese, Billy Crotty, Maurie Wingate, Sev Cortese, Ian Crilly, Neil Doolan and Brian Dillon (secretary); (front) Angelo Demasi, Joe Sciacca, Les Dillon, Nick Ciaveralla, Mark Dillon (mascot), John Williams, Michael Gallivan and Ronny McKinley.
A giant of St Augustine’s junior football has reflected on his time at the club which set him on the path to a glittering Goulburn Valley League career.
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As news of the merger between the two Kyabram junior clubs spread to Shepparton, the 200cm figure of former Saints junior ruckman John Cortese was glowing in his praise of the club where he first played the sport.
“Some parents of kids from those years would drive Sev and I back to Merrigum during term and then they would collect us for training and take us home in the holidays,” Cortese said.
“They even had a roster to collect us on Saturdays.”
Cortese was named first ruck in the Team of 50 Years that was selected in 2015 to mark a half-century since the inauguration of the club.
Now principal of Notre Dame College at Shepparton, the “gentle giant”, as he was known in league circles, spoke about his and twin brother Sev’s introduction to the St Augustine’s Junior Football Club.
Raised in Merrigum, the twins spent the first year of their schooling at their tiny home town school before spending the next 10 years at St Augustine’s College.
The reason behind their late start, as amazing as it may seem, was the fact they were considered too small by their parents to catch the bus from Merrigum to Kyabram as five-year-olds.
Post St Augustine’s, as a Year 12 student, Cortese was a member of the losing Merrigum grand final team in 1975 before he was invited to try his hand at Melbourne Football Club — where he played under-19 and reserve grade football.
Twin brother Sev remained at Merrigum, working at Carnation Milk, and was a member of a Merrigum premiership team.
Cortese’s return to the region sparked a glittering GVL career that included a best-and-fairest award in a premiership year at Tongala and another two senior best-and-fairest awards after he crossed to Shepparton.
The Team of 50 Years that was announced in 2015, captained by champion Melbourne footballer Garry Lyon.
He was also runner-up in the GVL’s Morrison Medal count in 1985, five years after he had won consecutive best-and-fairest awards while playing at University Blues in the Victorian Amateur Football League and finished runner-up in that league medal count.
What preceded those senior honours was a junior career that saw him part of an unbeaten team that was coached by long-time Saints mentor Kevin Boyle.
“I think it was 1972 when our team went through undefeated. That team included the Flanagans, Brendan and Peter, Shane Fitzsimmons, Maurie Wingate, Glen Macdermid and Les Dillon,” he said.
Success followed Cortese when he spent his final two years of secondary school at what was then St Colman’s (now Notre Dame). They were also a dominant force in school football.
Former St Augustine’s junior star, and current day Kyabram Football Netball Club secretary, Paul Shortis, in the early 1980s with his most disciplined junior football award - flanked by David Powell (Dawes Road) and Scott Hutchinson (Tongala)
· The union of Kyabram Junior Football Club and St Augustine’s has sent sporting historians rushing to their record books to celebrate the club’s 59-year history.
The Team of 50 Years featured a handful of players with VFL/AFL experience, including some of the biggest names in Kyabram football – the most notable being Garry Lyon, a 226 game VFL/AFL star who represented Victoria 10 times, Australia on eight occasions and has gone on to become one of the biggest names in football media in Australia.
Lyon was named captain of that team at centre half-forward.
The team included a number of other VFL/AFL stars who were plucked from the country during a phase in football which saw all junior footballers aligned to Melbourne Football Club.
Among them was Shane Fitzsimmons, who played 63 games from 1973-79, and in a two-week period during 1976 kicked six goals, had 40 disposals and pulled in 13 marks.
Then there was also Daryl Bourke, who only played 18 games in two seasons with Melbourne (1985-86) before injuring his knee.
That didn’t prevent him from becoming one of the greatest Queensland players of all time, a dual league best-and-fairest, a three-time premiership player and triple best-and-fairest winner with the club — as well as a 10-time state representative.
In this St Augustine's 2006 team are, (back) Rusty McDonnell (manager), A. Ciavarella, D. Shaw, S. Quirk, S. McDonnell, L. Dillon, G. Plummer, P. Wearden, M. Warren, R. Shellie, S. Drake, L. Ryan, M. Barrett, N. Cook and Peter James (coach). (Front) J. Cook, D. Moore, C. Evans, B. Shaw, N. D'Augello, L. Morris, H. Gill, K. Melverton, D. James and T. Norton.
Maurice Wingate was at Melbourne for five seasons and played 39 games from 1976-80. He was picked in the centre of the Team of 50 Years (1965-2015).
Finally, a two-time All Australian under-18 player who was involved in the trade that saw Hawthorn give up pick 10 to Fremantle in 2003 to bring defender Trent Croad back to his original club.
Fremantle used that pick to secure former St Augustine’s forward Ryley Dunn.
The timing of the team’s selection did not allow for the progress of several former St Augustine’s players into modern day senior football, along with those juniors who have worn the yellow and blue colours in the past 10 years.
Kyabram players who could feature in the team include the likes of Brad Whitford, Anthony Depasquale, Jake Parkinson, Josh Dillon, Mitchell Dodos and Archie Watt.
All were St Aug’s junior stars, while North Melbourne’s number 26 pick in the 2022 draft, Brayden George, also played in the blue and yellow colours.
Lancaster premiership stars Charlie McLay and Sam Spedding may also deserve consideration, while who knows where the latest member of the Carver family, Lachlan, will end up by the end of his career.
Lachlan is the son of current Kyabram senior co-coach Corey, who did not play with St Augustine’s himself, but has ironically ended up as a senior member of the college’s staff.
His eldest son was a star in the junior ranks and a league best-and-fairest winner.
A couple of young stars on the rise in the Kyabram District League could also one day challenge for a spot in the best ever St Augustine’s team, with teenager Declan Hallett already having a seven-goal senior game to his credit before graduating from underage ranks.
Tom Withall, another Saints junior with multiple individual awards to his credit, has been a regular in the strong Wombats teams of recent years and has been earmarked as a future club leader.
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