Sharks eye Tigers

Hamish Heard
Sharks are circling Torquay Football Club as a group of renegade Tigers threatens to defect to a proposed new Jan Juc side.
A spokesman for a group pushing to establish a Jan Juc football club, Kaine Finn, said 15 of Torquay’s premiership-winning seniors side had pledged to defect to his proposed Jan Juc Sharks.
Finn said talks with Torquay players disenchanted with the club after it sacked coach Adam Skrobalak had confirmed another 15 were “likely starters” for the Sharks.
“We’ve spoken to quite a few of them because the club is in turmoil,” he said.
“At least 30 players are looking to come across if things don’t evolve at the club.”
The club sacked Skrobalak last week after police charged him for allegedly threatening to kill a team member.
Seniors players’ threat of a mass walkout unless the club reinstated its former coach and star forward has left the Tigers in turmoil.
Finn confirmed his group had been in talks with Skrobalak about coaching the proposed club’s senior side.
“He’s proven himself as a premiership-winning coach and he has the players’ backing, so he’s the obvious choice,” Finn said.
Jan Juc Sharks would field teams in the under-18s, reserves and senior competitions, he said.
The group was in discussions with Surf Coast Shire about using Jan Juc’s Bob Pettit Reserve for training.
“But that ground is probably too small for seniors, so we’d look at gaining use of another oval just off Horseshoe Bend Road in Torquay for games.”
Finn predicted the proposed club would have no trouble drawing sponsors. Two of his businesses, All Star Building Company and a fashion label, would inject thousands of dollars to help get the Sharks off the ground.
Football Geelong chief Steven O’Dowd, who oversees Torquay’s Bellarine Football League, said the organisation was “interested in the possibility” of a new club for Jan Juc.
“Torquay Football Club does have a lot of junior footballers coming up through the ranks and because Torquay-Jan Juc is such a growth area it means at some stage it will have the capacity to take on a new club,” O’Dowd said.
But the Sharks would take BFL clubs to 11, meaning teams would have to take a bye each season.
The Independent was unable to gain a comment from Torquay Football Club.