The athletes of the Yarra Valley and Upper Yarra were in fine form in 2024, scaling the heights of their respective sports.
Here are some of the top sporting achievements of locals in 2024:
One local senior football side tasted the ultimate glory, with the Bloods from Healesville taking out the Divison One competition.
Healesville finished the home-and-away season in second place with a record of 13 wins and three losses, only two premiership points behind minor premiers Seville.
But it was Healesville who were crowned premiers on the last Saturday of the Outer East Division One competition, beating Warburton-Millgrove 9.9, 63 to 1.5, 11.
Healesville senior coach Ryan Webster said the team had a great season after taking a lesson from the defeat at the hands of Emerald in a preliminary final the season prior.
“It’s been a lot of fun, we knew what we had to try and achieve after a little bit of heartache last year losing the preliminary final,” he said.
“We obviously had some new recruits that came to the club this year who brought into what we were trying to achieve and what we were all about as a football club and the culture we were trying to hire at the football club,”
“The support that the club got from our community in Healesville is amazing. It’s obviously a small little town and the whole community gets behind the football club, and it’s great we can achieve some success for Healesville.”
In more positive news for the Healesville Football Netball Club, a prodigious junior talent was selected to compete on the biggest stage of them all.
Healesville Junior Football Club product Cody Anderson was selected by Hawthorn Hawks with pick 64 in the 2024 Telstra AFL Draft on Thursday 21 November.
The ‘Beast from the East’ couldn’t hide his excitement after getting drafted by the club.
“Leading up to the draft, I was so nervous,” Anderson said.
“I can’t really explain the feeling of relief when my name was read out, probably the best moment of my life,”
“I’ve always had a soft spot for Hawthorn, growing up with a lot of my friends who follow them, and obviously it’s the closest club to Healesville, so I’m beyond grateful for Hawthorn giving me this opportunity and can’t wait for it all to begin.”
In a statement following his drafting, the Hawthorn Football Club described Anderson as a ‘strong inside midfielder and pressure forward’ with ‘solid form’ for Eastern Ranges in the Coates Talent League and lauded his ‘competitiveness, strength around the contest and high defensive work rate’.
Anderson racked up averages of 22.5 disposals, 5.7 tackles, 5.5 inside 50s and 2.6 marks across his 11 games for the Ranges, which earned him selection for Victoria Metro, but he has eyes for a return to his local club one day.
“I plan on finishing up my football at Healesville one day in the future. I truly believe nothing beats playing footy in your hometown,” Anderson said.
An exciting new marquee match was also debuted in the Outer East Division One last season, with Seville hosting Belgrave in the inaugural George Ingram Cup on Anzac Day, named after the town’s Victoria Cross and Military Medal recipient George Ingram.
In the senior men’s football, the Magpies had the ascendancy early, registering the first three goals of the game before the Blues could muster a scoring shot.
The game became more of an arm-wrestle after the early onslaught with the Blues slowly pegging back the lead, taking it for themselves for the first time in the third quarter after a three-goal spree.
Belgrave held a minor lead for most of the final quarter as both teams missed chances before Seville’s Ryan Farrow nailed a tough set shot from the boundary to reduce the margin to a point before Belgrave’s Lachlan King would give away a 50m penalty late in the quarter that saw Seville hit the front for only the second time in the match.
Belgrave rushed the ball forward with the clock ticking down and a kick off the side of the boot fell kindly for the Magpie’s onrushing Chris Campbell. Campbell went back on the tight angle, kicked his fourth goal of the day to draw the game level and the siren blew right after as a thrilling match ended all square.
Goal umpires convened where the final score was confirmed, with the scorecard reading Seville 10.11, 71 to Belgrave 11.5, 71.
Seville’s Nathan O’Keefe was awarded the George Ingram medallion for best on ground, joining Wandin women’s footballer Hailee Stokes in receiving the first edition of the medal and Seville A-Grade netballer Genesis Foster-Jonassen, who received the Robertson Sister’s medal for best on court.
While not a feature of the Outer East Football Netball League these days, a former official celebrated a milestone in 2024.
Former Launching Place local and Yarra Valley Umpires Association umpire Ian Burrows celebrated his 400th AFL match as a boundary umpire on Saturday 15 June, running the boundary line as Richmond took on Hawthorn at the MCG in Round 14.
Burrows said he never really thought he’d be an umpire growing up.
“I didn’t continue on to play senior footy but I was keen to stay involved in sport and keep fit and healthy so I ended up joining the local league and umpired a couple of years in the Yarra Valley which was really enjoyable,” he said.
“I never really had any ambitions until I got going and then realised it was quite fun and that there was a career path, so I started getting reasonably serious about it and working hard on the craft to see if I could get better and better.”
Better and better Burrows did get, with his nearly 20-year AFL career starting in 2006 now including 10 AFL Grand Finals, being named an All Australian Umpire three times and an estimated 1280km run backwards by his 400th game, about the distance from Melbourne to Brisbane.
A Healesville local and her Hoddle Creek horse made the exciting journey to Paris, France for the Paralympics in 2024.
Bridget Murphy and her horse Macey (Racing name: Penmain Promise) competed in the Grade Two para-equestrian dressage, their first appearance at the Paralympics.
Murphy finished seventh in the Individual Test, 12th in the Team event alongside fellow Australian riders Lisa Martin and Stella Barton and seventh again in the Individual Freestyle.
Murphy and Macey’s performance drew praise from equestrian royalty, Denmark’s Paralympic legend Stinna Kaastrup who noted that, although Murphy’s body naturally leans to one side (due to her disability – multiple pterygium syndrome) it by no means impacts how evenly Macey works on both reins – a true testament to Murphy’s ability and the training she has done with this young mare.
Reflecting on her time at her maiden Paralympics, Murphy was proud and grateful.
“It means everything, like all kids in Australia, I grew up thinking that wearing the green and gold is the pinnacle, and it was such an honour, and I hope that I did it proud,” she said.
An Upper Yarra athlete who has had a torrid time with injuries and disappointing results finished his year in style with a big win.
Three Bridges’ Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders was back on the bike for the Rallye du Maroc, the final event of the 2024 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship held in Morocco in October.
On his competitive return, Sanders finished Stage One in second, 48 seconds behind the race leader Ross Branch.
On Stage Two, Sanders took third place in another timed special stage and retained his second overall standing while narrowing down the deficit to 42 seconds.
Sanders’ charge stormed on with a win in Stage Three, launching into the overall lead with an advantage of one minute and 35 seconds.
Sanders’ push to take the top spot for the event was not harmed by his performance in Stage Four, heading into the final day of racing with a 21 minute and 44 second lead over the competition. Following the issuing of penalties after Wednesday’s stage three, Sanders’ overall lead in the rally increased to over 11 minutes.
At the conclusion of the final Stage Five, Sanders emerged victorious taking out the 2024 Rallye Du Maroc by just over 11 minutes.
A small mistake near the beginning of the special cost the Three Bridges local several minutes, but he was able to get back on track and continue to lead out the stage.
Sanders said he was so pleased with how the whole rally has gone, especially taking the win of course.
“But it’s definitely a massive accomplishment for myself and the whole team since Dakar and the last race in Argentina – it really demonstrates the hard work everyone has put in over these last few months,” he said.
“I’m happy to be back on the top step, it’s been a year and a half since I broke my femur, so I’m super-pumped to be back on form and showing some good speed ahead of Dakar.”
