Around The Leagues: Kojonup comes alive for centenary, Fletch kicking barrels in Boxwood and a Royal record

The Advertiser brings you Around the Leagues, taking a look at football stories of players and personalities from the Great Southern, Ongerup and Upper Great Southern regions. Koji comes alive for centenary It was shoulder to shoulder in the Memorial Hall as hundreds came together to celebrate 100 years of the Kojonup Football Club on July 22. About 400 people joined in the festivities with life members, past and current players, officials, volunteers, sponsors and supporters all attending. Formerly the Kojonup Magpies and now the Kojonup Cougars, there were honour boards with historic photos, articles and football memorabilia to honour their centenary. The club has won 14 league premierships, 13 of those coming as the Magpies, while their most recent league grand final win was in 2014 as the Cougars. Life members and coaches during the club’s time made speeches during the night and 10 custom made jumpers were auctioned. The Cougars were massive 102-point winners to mark the 100-year celebrations and sit third on the league standings with an 8-4 win loss record. Unfortunately Kojonup’s most famous names in Peter Bell and Stephen Michael both couldn’t attend the function. Fletch kicking barrels in Boxwood Essendon games record holder Dustin Fletcher was a welcome visitor to Boxwood Hill Football Club on Monday. Here in WA travelling around to a number of football clubs, the 400-game Bombers legend ran a session with junior and senior players at Boxwood Hill. A dual premiership player, fairest and best winner and two-time All-Australian, Fletcher passed on his knowledge to a group of aspiring youngsters before he jumped in with Boxwood’s senior training session. Ripping a couple of his trademark torpedos, the 48-year-old showed he still has plenty of life left in the legs. Fletcher then shared some of his footy stories over a meal and a drink after training with the club. “A huge thankyou, the best fullback of all time Dustin Fletcher for coming all the way out to our little slice of heaven on the south coast,” Boxwood Hill posted to Facebook. “The juniors and seniors had a brilliant training session with the great man, followed by a very interesting yarn over dinner. “Won’t be many drop punts kicked this week I don’t reckon because the ‘barrel’ was obviously the focus of both trainings.” - with Harry Grigson Record time for Ryano Legendary left-footer Ryan Kinnear will add another chapter to his long country footy history in the next couple of weeks. Kinnear will equal the league games record at Royals with his 276th appearance when running out against Denmark-Walpole. The veteran wingman is one of only two Lions to have surpassed 250 games in the club’s history and is set to break the mark set by his close mate Mitch Curnow in the next fortnight. Curnow was the games record holder since surpassing Robin Waugh back in 2019. Kinnear has won five league premierships with the Lions and captained his club since making his debut in 2003. Well respected across the Great Southern Football League, Kinnear has played seven league games this year for the Lions who sit third on the ladder with two rounds left to play. The 37-year-old has been a stalwart of the GSFL and still went to the country championships this year. Dedicated Davo chalks up milestone Borden-raised footballer Anthony Davis is enjoying a superb season at WAFL level. Davis played his 50th league game for Claremont late last month and has been one of the in-form defenders across the whole competition in 2023. The 22-year-old is set to play his most league games in one season, having made 14 league appearances already and looking set to surpass the 15 he played in both 2022 and 2021. Davis has been in the WAFL system since 2018 when he joined Claremont as a colt and has become a key part of their league defensive unit. In 2023 Davis is averaging 16.6 disposals per game and 5.9 marks. The Tigers sit fourth on the league ladder with games against East Fremantle, Peel Thunder, Swan Districts and Perth to complete the regular season. Davis will line up at centre half back in Saturday’s clash with the Sharks at the WACA and is joined in the league team by fellow Great Southern product Tyron Smallwood. Big group in Claremont reserves It will be a big day for the Great Southern with a stack of local players taking to the field for Claremont in their reserves side on Saturday against East Fremantle. Eight players from the region will play in the Tigers’ reserves team, including returning duo Timm House and Kieran Gowdie. House (Gnowangerup), Gowdie (Albany), Coen Jackman (Railways), Talon Delacey (North Albany), Heath Ravenhill (North Albany), Morgan Davies (Albany and Royals), Bailey Bennett (Railways) and Rhori Williams-Jolley (North Albany) make up the big contingent. For House it will be his first WAFL game of the season after suffering a meniscus injury in his knee while playing at home for Gnowangerup in April. The talented 28-year-old has not played WAFL since last year’s grand final defeat. Ruckman Kieran Gowdie is also listed to play his first game since last year’s reserves preliminary final, having missed a large chunk of 2023 with a back injury. Delacey is on his way back from injury, having played 12 league games this season. The Tigers sit fourth on the reserves ladder but just one game behind second-placed West Perth. Got a footy story from our region to share? Email cameron.newbold@albanyadvertiser.com