SOCCER
TOMMY Wood has been involved in a tug of war between former club Mornington and current club Peninsula Strikers.
And it looks like Mornington has won the battle to clinch the young forward’s signature. Wood texted Strikers’ gaffer Scott Morrison last week to let him know he was going to return to Dallas Brooks Park. “The message was along the lines of thanks for everything but I want to go try this,” Morrison said. It’s understood that the Seagulls have offered the 21-year-old an attractive match fee and goal bonus and Strikers were not given the opportunity to match it.
Morrison spoke to Wood last week in a last-ditch bid to change his mind. Morrison has coached at Mornington while Wood made 10 appearances for the Seagulls in 2022 and at the end of the season joined Langwarrin’s under-23s.
He joined Strikers for the 2024 season and shared top scorer honours with Riley Anderton. “Just recently I spoke to a player at another club but I contacted his coach first to seek permission which he was happy with and the player respected that we did that,” Morrison said. “Mornington never contacted us about going after Tommy and although we have a few ex-Mornington players I never approached them while they were still playing for Mornington – they had already left or contacted us.”
Morrison was present at the meeting in September when Wood agreed with Strikers to remain at Centenary Park.
Not long after the club confirmed the agreement on its Facebook page: “Peninsula Strikers is excited to announce that striker Tommy Wood will be returning for another season at Strikers! “Tommy had an unbelievable first year at the club putting in some monster shifts and terrorising defenders. “2025 promises to be a big one for this guy and we are excited to see the damage he can cause.”
And now it seems that Seagulls fans will be echoing those sentiments. “Tommy not only is a young and up-and-coming striker with a lot of upside he’s someone that as a club – and me personally – invested in to help him be happy again with his football,” Morrison said. “We gave him his first proper year of senior football and he has so much more to learn and develop and we were invested in doing that with him. “The way he left Mornington last time it took a lot to pick him up off the canvas but I’ve been a massive supporter of his to help get him back to a happy place so it’s a bit personal for me as I genuinely care for all my players outside of football too. “I wish Tommy well if he goes but I’m bitterly disappointed in the way this has played out especially after we announced him re-signing. “What it does do though is create opportunity for others as we won’t look to bring in anyone else – we have the firepower in the squad already.”
Wood is the first of an influx of new players expected at Mornington. Head coach Adam Jamieson has agreed terms with a number of them some of whom he’s keeping under wraps right now. “I can tell you that we’ve signed young Jack McDonald from Bentleigh Greens and his teammate Jay Davies,” Jamieson said. Davies, 32, is a former Peterborough midfielder who has also played for Green Gully and Dandenong Thunder. McDonald is a central defender who has played with Langwarrin and Melbourne Victory.
The big news at Skye United is that head coach Phil McGuinness will be in charge for his seventh season.
He was appointed in October 2018. Last week Skye held its AGM as it voted in a new committee without Daren Jones as president and Stuart Lawrence as his deputy. They were ever-present in their respective positions for the past decade but both stepped down recently. The new club president is Mick Stevens, owner of Extreme Render Bayside which has been a major sponsor for the last eight years. Stevens has been involved with Skye for 14 years and four of his five children play there. “My eldest daughter is studying and working but I’m trying to get her back here and my oldest boy Sebastian is in the senior squad,” Stevens said. “I’ve been coaching for seven years and I’ve taken an under-11s team all the way through to the men’s Metro league.”
Last Thursday Stevens and his committee met with McGuinness and both parties were happy with the outcome.
After the meeting Stevens gave McGuinness a ringing endorsement. “He’ll have a budget that allows him to be competitive,” Stevens said. “He has full knowledge of his budget and he’ll make the most of what he’s got. “And so he should. A man like him who is so dedicated deserves to be supported to create the best squad he possibly can. “He’ll have complete control over negotiating with players and I trust him absolutely because I trust his judgement.”
McGuinness is keen to start rebuilding his squad after losing many experienced players this year either through retirement or moving to lower leagues. “After chatting to Mick he definitely lifted my interest again and hopefully we can rebuild the squad like we once had,” McGuinness said. “That’s going to take a lot of hard work and loyalty from both club and players because we want to be challenging again not just making up the numbers. “But we’re under no illusion that with a slightly better budget we’ll all of a sudden be challenging for promotion. “There’s plenty of teams over the last two years that have invested heavily in their senior squads and still didn’t get promoted so I think we’re taking a more gradual approach. “Our aim is still to attract young players and offer them the opportunity to play very competitive football in a great environment.”
Last week Football Victoria released the provisional NPL and VPL structures for 2025 including promotion and relegation rules that are important to both Langwarrin and Mornington. Langwarrin has a number of pathways to promotion next season. It can either finish first or second and gain automatic promotion to the NPL or it can finish in the next four positions (3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th) which would qualify for a play-off – 3rd v 6th, 4th v 5th with the winners playing off for a promotion spot. Three teams will be relegated to VPL2. The State 1 champions (South East and North West) will gain automatic promotion to VPL2 while the runners-up will play for a third promotion spot.
Meanwhile Somerville Eagles and Rosebud are two of 25 clubs throughout the state to be awarded a Football Victoria Club Development Grant. The $1000 grants are designed to support clubs in their efforts to enhance female programs, foster participation and strengthen the football community. FV listed the successful recipients last weekend posting on its website: “This grant round was highly competitive, with a large number of clubs submitting outstanding applications aimed at growing the game at the grassroots level. “The clubs awarded funding demonstrated quality projects/ideas and a strong commitment to promoting inclusivity, development, and long-term sustainability within their communities.” Two of the higher-profile clubs to win grants were Preston Lions and North Geelong.
First published in the Mornington News – 22 October 2024
