Friday night banter at the front bar of most country pubs consists of three key conversation points — who was the best footballer of any given era, the rumour mill and, of course, the footy tipping.
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But even the sanctity of pub talk has been affected by the curse of COVID, some pubs choosing to not even run football tipping this year due to the stagnated nature and difficulty in patrons being able to submit their tips on a weekly basis.
Those that have forged through these barriers are readying themselves to crown a new tipping champion.
While the so-called experts have struggled to get a handle on results this year, there is a strong representation among the state’s top tipsters from our own region.
Big names such as Kane Cornes, Matty Lloyd and Daisy Pearce pale against the tally Mick Mahoney from Kyabram has accumulated.
Mick, from Luca Bookkeeping in Allen St, finished the year on 148 winners. He hit the line like Phar Lap with eight winners on the weekend and would have picked the card if Hawthorn had gotten across the line in its draw with Richmond on Saturday.
He finished three ahead of Sam Vick from Empire Signs.
The Free Press tipping is slightly tilted in favour of a big end-of-year score, as a weekly "local" match is counted along with the nine AFL games toward the end of year total
Mick grew up in Cobram and in his junior football days played alongside newly appointed Geelong chief executive Steve Hocking.
“I was just a half-back flanker in the under 18s, not in the same league as the Hockings,” he said.
Mick still caught up with Pam and Les Hocking, parents of the VFL/AFL stars on his trips to Geelong.
He said he didn't, however, call in any favours from the likes of the Hocking brothers and had a simple theory to his tipping.
“I didn't pick Carlton (who he supports) too often — I went with my head, not my heart,” he said.
An accountant for most of his working life, he held the treasurer's rank at Lang Lang Football Club.
He was volunteered into the Free Press footy tipping, having started at Luca Bookkeeping in February.
“I've never won a footy tipping before, so it's been interesting to be in front for about 14 weeks of the season,” he said.
Tongala publican and tipping co-ordinator Stewart Northausen said the past couple of years had seen a drop in numbers.
“We’d always have about 80 people, but the last couple of years it’s been back to about 60,” he said.
Stewart said it had been near impossible contacting everyone to get their tips in this year.
“A lot of people are doing it online instead of at the pub,” he said.
At Tongala decorated country footballer Steven Hammond was leading the way on 125, hoping to secure his first Tongala footy tipping crown to go alongside his other footballing accolades.
“He has never won it before, but he is just two in front with two people just behind him,” Stewart said.
Peter Warburton, another former Blues coach and publican of Tatura Hotel, said he hadn’t even run a footy tipping this year.
“Our tipping is usually very popular, there is a $1000 prize on offer, but this year we didn’t run it,” he said.
“It used to bring a lot of people in every Thursday and Friday.”
Peter said COVID had changed a lot of habits in the community, with pubs not the same on a Friday night as they once were.
“Friday night raffles have fallen off. What was once a full bar is no longer, we do a lot more meals nowadays,” he said.
A bit further up the road, at Tatura’s Top Pub, footy tipping co-ordinator Brendan Naus said Michael Drew had bragging rights over the summer, sitting on top of the table with a 130-plus score.
“He is a St Kilda supporter, but he is not silly enough to pick them every week,” he said.
“One lady just picks what Dermott (Brereton) picks and a couple of Collingwood supporters never go against the Pies. They do not usually win.”
He took over the tipping four years ago after the almost obligatory protests about cheating.
Rochester Hotel’s Donna Tatt wasn’t particularly complimentary of her tipsters’ prowess at choosing the winning formula from week to week.
“Ray, who organises the tipping, won it last year. He’s finished just over 100 this year,” she said.
“I don’t think our guys are all that good at tipping.”
The Rochester Hotel’s prize cupboard includes a winner’s trophy and a wooden spoon, which looks like going to one tipster who has bagged just 80 winners this year.
“If someone manages to pick nine we give them a free drink. We haven’t had to worry about that this year,” Donna said.
“No-one has picked the card.”
Kyabram Free Press and Campaspe Valley News editor