'MIDAS' BACK FOR ANOTHER FLAG TILT

He may not have been a star in the AFL, but Peter Tossol has been a hit in the country

Few bush champions have the pedigree of Wangaratta's Peter Tossol, who has the Midas touch when it comes to collecting football and cricket silverware.

With the opening of the Ovens and Murray season yesterday, Tossol, 45, began yet another premiership campaign, this time back as coach of Corowa-Rutherglen.

It is his first season at the club since leading the club to two flags in a five-year period.

At last count, Tossol had collected 23 football and cricket flags as player and coach, including 10 in 11 years at his former cricket club, Thornton.

One of four competitive brothers, two of whom played AFL football at Melbourne, Tossol said his decision to return to the O&M league after three happy years with Mansfield was a combination of opportunity and desire to have more time with his wife, Bronwyn, and his three daughters, 16, 13 and 7.

"The girls love their horse riding so I tag along and sit on a stump making my footy phone calls while they ride," said Tossol, who played 17 games with the Dees between 1982-84.

Mansfield was an hour's drive either way. While he lifted the club into the Goulburn Valley finals three years in a row, including two preliminary finals, it fell short of going all the way to a grand final.

"Corowa-Rutherglen was looking for someone and it came up at the right time for me," he said.

"It was good to kick off over this Easter weekend against Wodonga Raiders, because we have many extra visitors to the town for the long break."

Tossol's last truly competitive season as a player was in 1999, at 36, but he still trains with everyone else and fills in occasionally for a half in the seconds.

"It gets harder and harder to train. Age is kicking in, I can assure you," he said.

He is particularly excited at his second coming as he has recruited some top-class players including Frankston's Sam Carpenter, Geoff Raine's son Nick, and the lightning-quick former premiership defender Craig Tafft, a Stawell Gift finalist.

"Our future is really with the young ones, trying to fast-track them and give them opportunities to advance," he said.

"We couldn't play them all this weekend. Tim McIntyre, unfortunately, is out for the year with a knee while Nathan Kerlin has back issues. He's only 16, but is already 6ft 5in (196cm). He is really one to watch."

Tossol said country clubs had no choice but to champion their youngsters and look to fast-track them through the system.

"You hope that they always remember where they come from and that they come back every now and again as it means so much to the ones coming through," he said.

One teenager turning heads is winger Jamie Seymour, who, Tossol said, was capable of being drafted later this year.

Tossol said it was a case of deja vu for him returning to Corowa-Rutherglen as when he began his first stint at the club, it had also finished eighth, the same position the club occupied at the end of last year.

He said country players, especially at senior level, were more professional than in the past, but still enjoyed an active social life, so it was impossible to police their every move.

"You can never (keep them out of hotels), but most blokes are pretty good about it today and realise they have responsibilities to the team," he said.

Renowned for his expert management skills and passion for the contest, he admitted to occasionally losing his cool, especially when team mates didn't protect each other, leading to unnecessary injury.

"You always want them to shepherd and protect. I hate it when players don't look after each other," he said.

Tossol's brother, John, also played two games for Melbourne in 1981 and Peter won premierships at under-19s and reserves level.

He had formerly played at Assumption College alongside former international cricketer Simon O'Donnell. Tossol captained the first XI and O'Donnell the firs XVIII.

Man of many talents

Peter Tossol was good enough to play AFL football with Melbourne and make a 50 against a West Indies touring team which included Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner and a young Courtney Walsh.

But Tossol said choices had to be made these days between cricket and football if young players were to progress to elite levels.

He said he had the best of both worlds, following his father (also Peter) on to the senior list at Melbourne and playing 17 games in a three-year stint in the early 1980s.

While in Melbourne he worked as a junior with the Victorian Football League, his colleagues including a young Dermott Brereton.

On his return to Alexandria, he began a 211-game association with Wangaratta Rovers as well as building a reputation as one of Victorian country cricket's most prolific batsmen.

A left-hander, his career-high of 210 came in a semi-final for Thornton against Waratahs at Alexandria. He also twice made double-centuries in grand finals in the Alexandria-Mansfield cricket Association.

A member of six Victorian Country championship squads, he was also an All-Australian one memorable summer, the year the Australian Country team defeated a NSW team that included Test trio Geoff Lawson, Mike Whitney and Murray Bennett.

Similar to one of his best mates Geoff "Flops" Phillips, from Tayoon, Tossol said he had never worried about a helmet, even against the West Indies expresses when they came to Wangaratta for a one-dayer in the mid 80's.

"They had a pretty fair team on paper, including all their fast bowlers," he said.

"I don't think too many of them were going full bore, but Courtney Walsh was certainly quick enough for me. I was wearing a favourite pair of gloves, without too much padding and at one stage he struck me on the hand and I found out later iti was broken."