Wagga welcomes O’Loughlin & Fevola

By James Matthey

For a man who’s played in AFL Grand Finals in front thousands of parochial fans, Michael O’Loughlin could be forgiven if he was struggling for motivation for his cameo appearance down in Wagga this Friday night.

However, that certainly isn’t the case for the AFL icon, who is champing at the bit to don the Marrar jersey in the Farrer League’s traditional Anzac Challenge against Rock-Yerong Creek.

The 303-game veteran said the match in Wagga would be a great way to end his footballing journey and give back to the passionate Riverina community.

“This will basically be my last year of competitive footy … it’s been a great journey,” O’Loughlin said.

“The Swans have always had good support in Wagga, so I wanted to come down and play this game.

“I’m jumping out of my skin.

“You see a lot of ex-AFL players playing country footy now and I’m excited to chuck the boots on again.”

The man with 521 career goals to his name has been keeping in shape by training with the University of NSW side in a bid to put on a show for the Wagga crowd.

“When time permits I like to get down there and chuck the boots on,” O’Loughlin said.

“I’ll have a run tonight (last night) then head to Wagga on Friday.”

O’Loughlin says he is excited about participating in such a significant event, and expects Friday night to be a great occasion for the entire community.

“Being an Anzac game, even though it’s not on Anzac Day, the atmosphere should be great and hopefully the locals all support it.”

O’Loughlin won’t be the only star to watch out for in Wagga that weekend, though, with former Carlton and Brisbane forward Brendan Fevola making a guest appearance for Griffith in their clash with Leeton-Whitton in the Riverina Football League on the Sunday.

Griffith captain-coach, Guy Orton, said while it was exciting to have the spearhead on board, Fevola would still have to slot into the Swans’ existing structures.

“It’s hard because we’re trying to move forward and play finals footy,” Orton said yesterday.

“He’s only here for one week.

“It’s not like it’s going to be ‘OK, Fev’s here, let’s do it his way’.

“Obviously I want him to kick some goals and finish off, but more importantly I want us to stick to our structures.

“He’s a new face into the team but it will be the same structures.”

Orton also said that he wasn’t expecting a huge haul of goals from the former AFL bad-boy, but was just hoping he would contribute to a strong team performance.

“I just want him to make a contest,” Orton said.

“If he takes a few grabs and kicks a few goals, so be it.

“As we’ve got small forwards when it comes to ground I expect us to clean up underneath him.

“If he does cling a few and kick some goals, all and well.”