The final siren has sounded on sport for 2022.

I hope you have enjoyed the coverage put together by the Gippsland Times this year.

Congratulations to all those fortunate enough to play in premierships, and to those who achieved personal milestones and accolades.

My thanks to my editorial team for their assistance throughout the year; our contributors who sent through write-ups; and to local clubs for their support and hospitality.

The main highlight for me this year was covering local footy and netball grand finals once more, while the story I most enjoyed putting together was the piece on Sale’s 2012 premiership reunion. Again, my thanks to Sale Football-Netball Club, especially Tassie Deacon, for helping coordinate this.

I also thoroughly enjoyed working with local horse and greyhound racing clubs, and seeing the great work they do away from the track.

It was fantastic to welcome crowds back to the Sale Cup, while the historic Good Friday meeting will ensure Sale Turf Club holds a special place in the state’s racing history as the inaugural hosts of such a meeting.

Some other great stories were Boisdale-Briagolong’s maiden A Grade netball premiership in East Gippsland, as well as Woodside’s thrilling extra time victory in the North Gippy netball decider, not to mention Sale United women breaking their cup drought.

Maffra FNC celebrated not one, but two players getting drafted this year, while in Stratford, there was premierships 12 months of the year – A Grade cricket and senior football.

Underdogs had their moments in 2022.

How good was it to see Gormandale finally break their losing streak in North Gippy senior football.

Then there was the Woodside senior team, reaching finals after a goal in the dying seconds of a regular season game, and going on to make a preliminary final.

The Wildcats weren’t far off making the big dance either – they genuinely had eventual premier Yallourn Yallourn North on the ropes at three quarter time.

I know I need to stay impartial, but even I was saying “c’mon Woodside” internally at that stage.

But if I had to pick a favourite story from the year, it would have to be Sale’s run to the Gippsland League Grand Final.

I have included my favourite sport photo to go with this, and it is of Sale players reacting moments after their two point win in the semi-final against Traralgon.

The Magpies survived a fortnight of sudden death finals, before running a gallant second to a Leongatha side that could well go down as one of the all time great teams in the Gippsland League.

The real story for me however was the Sale reserves. They went from wooden spooners two years running to making a Grand Final.

For that effort alone, they already won before the Grand Final was even played.

The Magpies were certainly a force to be reckoned with last season, so much so I contemplated if football was even worth playing anymore after coming up against them.

Following one particularly horrendous day at Sale Oval, I drove home in complete silence and sat alone at my kitchen table, starring blankly into the distance thinking “there has to be better things to do on a Saturday”.

But, like countless others who took to the fields or courts in the local sporting season just gone, we all enjoyed different fortunes.

From a consumer sense, I hope the insights provided in most sport stories this year have generated some interest, or at the very least, offered a different perspective, because above all else, what I don’t want is for the sport pages to be filled with the stock-standard ‘this team beat this team and this is who was best’.

If people want to know that they can just look up the scores.

Players are always told to put in the ‘extra effort’. Writers are no different.

See you in 2023.

LIAM DURKIN

EDITOR – GIPPSLAND TIMES