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Stratford Cricket Club will be one of the teams joining the Kookaburra T20 smash.

Local clubs to t ake part in new T20 All-Star smash competition

Josh Farrell

GIPPSLAND will be home to a new Twenty20 cricket competition in 2021, with the exciting Kookaburra T20 smash bringing eight teams from different leagues together to battle it out. Gippsland cricket fans will no longer have to travel to Melbourne to watch exciting T20 cricket, and will even have the opportunity watch it from the comfort of their own homes. Gippsland T20 smash is set to bring clubs together from the Sale-Maffra Cricket Association, the Traralgon District Cricket Association, the Latrobe Valley and District Cricket League and the Leongatha District Cricket Association. Local clubs Stratford, Maffra and Collegians have been invited to play in the competition, along with Yarram and District, Ex Students and Toongabbie (TDCA), Morwell (LVDCL) and Leongatha Imperials. While only a select number of clubs will be able to play in the competition, the goal is to create the best spectacle possible, with clubs having the option to bring marquee players on board. All clubs will have the opportunity to bring in six marquee players from their competition to an 18 man roster and can use up to four of them in a game. The competition has come about thanks to a small sub-committee which has worked hard to start up the region’s first T20 competition. Ex Students cricketer Lee Stockdale formed part of the sub-committee, and said it was an exciting prospect to see what the competition could do for cricket in the region. “We are trying to make the product really good … there will be a lot of Friday night games; there will possibly be some double header games played on a Sunday as well,” he said. At this stage the teams have been announced with no fixture yet, although Stockdale is hopeful they will be able to get a large number of games together. “It’s obviously a challenge with weather and COVID and we have a bit still to iron out with the fixture, but we hope we can get a lot of cricket in,” he said. Kookaburra has come on as a major sponsor and encouraged the use of the pink balls to ensure the best viewing experience for fans. All matches will be live-streamed through a designated Facebook page to ensure maximum engagement. Automotive company MG has also come on as a sponsor for the tournament, with the winning team taking away a new car. Stockdale hopes the competition can grow in the coming years, but said it was important to make sure the first instalment got off the ground and started strongly.

Magpies lock in Johnstone for two more seasons

Josh Farrell

SALE Football-Netball Club has announced a contract extension for senior coach Jack Johnstone, which will result in him remaining at the Magpies until the end of 2023. Johnstone joined the club in 2021 after crossing from fierce rival Maffra where he played at for three seasons after coming back from Williamstown in the VFL. In a post on the club’s Facebook page, the Magpies said Johnstone has been an outstanding leader on and off the field, so the decision to extend his contract was an easy one to make for all involved. Johnstone was able to guide the senior team to seven wins and three losses in his first season at the helm. “The season being cut short definitely left a funny feeling,”Johnstone said. His arrival at Sale raised a few eyebrows around the league, but the man himself said he has settled in well and the club had been fantastic. “I really enjoyed my time at Maffra and have loved my time at Sale ... there’s great people at both clubs,” he said. “I had a heap of help from guys around the club and they have been really supportive.” Johnstone has brought a wealth of football experience with him to Sale, with a VFL premiership at Williamstown, where he was also named best first year player. Prior to this he spent time with Gippsland Power in his younger days before coming back to Maffra and playing in its 2019 premiership. Johnstone believed his time in the VFL was already having a large influence on his coaching methods at the Magpies. “When you play VFL it’s a massive commitment and the details and the program is something I’ve tried to bring back,” he said. “I don’t like to waste my time and I don’t like to waste other people’s time, so everything we do — whether it’s weight sessions or drills — we give it our all.” Johnstone said there was plenty of positives for this side moving forward, with a great mixture of youth and experience. “We were seven and three (at the end of the season) and we had really good patches, especially after the first few games, we had a few things we needed to improve,” he said. “We weren’t quite matching it with those top three yet but we definitely had patches where we took it right up to them. “Jack McLaren and Mitch Bown are two who have benefitted from more game time and are going from strength to strength. “With the list we have we should be expecting to play finals.” Reflecting on his first experience as a senior playing-coach, Johnstone said there was one aspect that stood out. “The biggest adaption to the role was just the bigger workload,” he said. “Normally on a Sunday I could relax, but now I am really busy.” Sale will be hoping Johnstone can bring the success he experienced at the Eagles to the Magpies for their first premiership since 2012.