By Marcus Uhe
As Darren Arter absorbed the emotions of Springvale South’s DDCA Turf 1 grand final victory on Saturday, a wave of nostalgia hit him like the Saturday afternoon cool change at Arch Brown Reserve.
In the 1991/92 season Arter, in his early twenties, captained-coached the Bloods to a Turf 2 premiership over Endeavour Hills, returning them to Turf 1 after a five-year absence.
The next year, he did the extraordinary, steering his side to a second-consecutive flag, but this time in Turf 1, a first in the history of the DDCA, at the very same ground as where the 2022/23 side did the business.
In recent weeks, the club celebrated the 30-year reunion of the historic second flag, meaning the memories were fresh in his mind.
Watching his chargers bask in the glory of a back-to-back flag of their own, he could be forgiven for thinking he was in two places at once.
“I just know how good those memories were,” Arter said.
“You love seeing the boys, and listen to the music going on in there now; you love seeing the boys celebrating and enjoying it.”
Having done it as a player, Arter was acutely aware of what was at-stake for his side entering the 2022/23 campaign, after getting the chocolates the year before.
But it seemed his players were just as hungry, if not more, than what he was, when the squad reconvened in late winter last year.
“I didn’t have to (set a goal) because I could see in the boys that they wanted the back-to-back,” the premiership coach said.
“They enjoyed it so much last year, the celebrations, because it had been a while, so I really didn’t have to say anything about it.
“I’ve seen it all year long, and just that it’s a long season to be up the whole time.
“We sort of dropped off a bit but then we found our way again.
“They’re experienced, good cricketers, quality cricketers in this side. I don’t do a great deal, they know it themselves.”
It’s a great compliment for a side missing their superstar captain in Ryan Quirk, but acutely accurate nonetheless.
As the season turned on its head in the space of 72 hours, with their first loss of the season to Buckley Ridges in the semi-final and Quirk suffering a foot injury the following Monday, Arter turned to Jordan Wyatt, their vice-captain, to take the reins for the remainder of the season.
“It was Tuesday morning a couple of weeks ago,” Wyatt said, recalling the moment he was informed of his late-season promotion.
“’Darts’ (Arter) called me at 6.30 in the morning, saying ‘Ryan’s broken his foot and you’ll be captaining the next two finals’.
“I was awake, I’ve got two kids so I’m up pretty early, so that wasn’t too big a deal.”
It was a case of mixed emotions for Wyatt; as someone who had never had the honour of leading a side before, there was no escaping the grandeur being entrusted with such a significant duty.
Simultaneously, his thoughts were with his mate, who had captained them to an undefeated home-and-away season while being the competition’s leading run-scorer with 460 at an average of 51.
“It’s so special, it’s something to savour, that you’re a premiership captain,” he explained.
“There was a lot of pride in that, that I was trusted to lead this group forward.
“But also, I was quite flat for Ryan, obviously, because, what a year he’s had.
“He’s been absolutely super. He’s led from the front with the bat, he’s been absolutely amazing on the field.”
While not able to participate in either of the two remaining finals, Quirk was as active a spectator as you could be, wearing his white playing shirt last week and his red number 1 on Saturday, cheering-on every wicket and every run with pride from the sidelines.
During the post-game presentations, Arter chose to hand his medal as winning coach, to Quirk, before Quirk and Wyatt lifted the premiership cup to a roar of Bloods backers in front of the W.J Williamson pavilion.
“The boys were unbelievable, they’ve been unbelievable all year, and to get the win here today the way they did was massive,” Quirk said.
“From a selfish point-of-view, it’s bittersweet, but at the same time, I couldn’t be happier.
“Buckley are an unbelievable batting side and for us to bowl them out for 147 on a pretty good deck is a massive credit to all of our bowlers.
“Obviously we’ve got five unbelievable bowlers and ‘Sketch’ (Jackson Sketcher) coming in as the sixth, I thought he bowled unbelievable today.
“Overall, it was an unbelievable effort from all the boys. I’m so proud.”
‘Sketch’, ‘Strakes’ (Jarryd Straker) ‘Dowlo’ (Josh Dowling) ‘Yoshy’ (Yoshan Kumara), Matt Wetering and Blade Baxter formed the nucleus of what Wyatt described as the best bowling group in the competition, and swung yet another contest in their favour on Saturday morning in horrid bowling conditions.
“At 1/90 I thought, ‘We’re in a bit of strife here, we need to tighten the screws and build some dots on them’, but the boys bowled very well,” Wyatt said.
“It started with Blade, he bowled very well, and then Strakes (Straker) came on and bowled very well, and Sketch (Sketcher) followed him.
“It just shows the depth of our side; if we’ve got ‘Sketch’ as our sixth bowler and just doing what we’ve done, it’s fantastic.”
Where the top-order may have misfired at times late in the season, the bowling pack remained as reliable as ever.
They bowled their opponents out as many times as anyone but critically, they did it to fellow grand finalists Buckley Ridges twice, and other members of the final four in Hallam Kalora Park and North Dandenong in their only meetings this season.
Three, in Dowling, Baxter and Straker, broke the 20-wicket barrier, with Baxter leading the way on 29.
The all-rounder was recognised with the Fleming Medal, named after fellow Bloods seamer Damien Fleming, for his 3/26 and 17 not out as the best player in the grand final, guiding the chase home with Cam Forsyth in the 37th over.
For Baxter, he’ll have to make room in his burgeoning trophy cabinet for two new pieces of silverware, having tasted the ultimate success for the 11th time in senior cricket.
As the wind rattled and the two medals clinked against one-another while speaking after the game, when asked where it ranked for his personal achievements, he beamed with pride.
“It’s up there,” he said.
“I think we did a job collectively with the ball.
“We’re very close and we all know we can rely on each other because when the game gets away from us, someone else will come on and step up.
“We’ve never really had one stand-out bowler for the whole season, everyone sort of just comes on and does their job, and I think that’s what makes a good team, having that depth to allow anyone to do their job when required.”
Cam Forsyth’s success ensured yet another Forysth name made its way into Springvale South folklore, in the first season of senior cricket that Cam and Mitch got to play together.
Their dad Paul is already a life member, while Brett – the brother of Cam and Mitch – is a fellow premiership winner.
The Forsyth family was out in force at Arch Brown to celebrate their success, and were rewarded with watching Cam hit the winning runs.
“Our eldest brother Ryan played at Springvale South, I think when he was nine or 10,” Cam said.
“I played in a premiership with Brett five years ago but this is the first time I’ve played consistently with Mitch this season, playing more than a game or two in a row.
“Dad played there, Brett played juniors there, myself and Mitch have all played juniors there.
“We’ve all only ever played at two clubs, in Springvale South and Dandenong.”
For Mitch, who took an excellent catch to remove Ben Wright in a crucial moment of the game, winning a second flag, this time with a brother, was a “very special”.
“To do it with this club is incredible,” he said.
“There’s a lot of very good volunteers, we don’t sometimes have the numbers but we’ve got the quality of people and there’s a lot of people who put in a lot of time.
“This one’s just as sweet to do it with Cam.”
They’re not the only familiar connection within the club; Ryan Quirk’s father, Jason, the current President, holds a life membership, while Sketcher’s father, Neville also donned the red and white in his playing days.
It’s those long-running connections that make the club more than a simple sporting outlet, according to Ryan Quirk.
“Everyone’s best day of the week is Saturday, because everyone’s with the boys all day,” Quirk said.
“We all get along like a house on fire and the culture at the club at the moment is absolutely out of this world.
“Everyone has fun, everyone absolutely loves it and like I said, everyone can’t wait to turn up every week.”
