The Murray Bushrangers is an Australian rules football team playing in Victorian statewide under-18s competition, presently known as the Talent League, since 1993 based in Wangaratta. The team trains on Norm Minns Oval, Wangaratta.
The Under 18's boys team has been coached by Mark Brown from 2019 to 2024. The guernsey colours are Black, Purple and Gold, with black socks and black (home) or white (away) shorts.
The Murray Bushrangers are based at Wangaratta, near the Victoria-NSW border and have been involved in the competition since 1993 when the competition added another four country teams, which brought the number of teams to twelve regions. The club's original home ground was at the W J Findlay Oval, Wangaratta between 1993 and 2011, before they moved into the new Wangaratta Sports Development Centre on the Norm Minns Oval at the Wangaratta Showgrounds in 2012.
The Murray Bushrangers supports local talent squads at Under 15 and Under 16 levels and co-ordinates the talented player pathways program for young aspiring AFL players throughout the North East and Goulburn Valley regions.
While the Murray Bushrangers forms an initial career path to the AFL for some, for many others it provides an outstanding experience of elite under 18 football, giving players a solid foundation for a successful playing and or coaching pathway at regional level.
The side was made up with players from the Kangaroos, topped up with players from the Ovens and Murray Football League, and offering a second chance to players from the statewide under-18s Murray Bushrangers team who had missed out on the draft.
At the end of 2002, The Kangaroos disbanded the club citing pressure from the AFL, and cost-cutting measures (the club cost around $100,000 a year to field). North Melbourne instead decided to align with the Port Melbourne Football Club in a short-term deal.[2]
Murray lost in the 2007 TAC Cup Grand Final to the Calder Cannons by 50 points and Ben McEvoy was selected in the TAC Team of the Year. 2008 saw the Bushrangers dominate the entire competition season finishing 1st at season end and defeating the Dandenong Stingrays by 81 points in the 2008 grand final and midfielder-forward Steele Sidebottom had a game-high 32 possessions and kicked 10.3 claiming best on ground honours.[3][4]
The Murray Bushrangers FC celebrated their first twenty years in the pre-eminent under 18 boys football competition in Australia, the TAC Cup by announcing their best ever football side in July 2012.[21]
Brett Edward Deledio is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played 243 games over 12 seasons with the Richmond Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), and a further 32 matches over three seasons with the Greater Western Sydney Giants. He was a two-time All-Australian, two-time Richmond best and fairest winner and recipient of the league's Rising Star award in his debut year in 2005. Between 2013 and 2016, he served as Richmond's vice-captain. Deledio was drafted to Richmond with the number one overall pick in the 2004 AFL draft and made his debut in round 1 of the 2005 season.
The Wangaratta Rovers, officially known as the Wangaratta Rovers Football & Netball Club, is an Australian rules football club based in Wangaratta, Victoria and play in the Ovens & Murray Football League. Their nickname is the Hawks. Their home ground is W.J. Findlay Oval in Wangaratta. Their playing guernsey consists of gold and brown stripes on the front and gold on the back.
The Talent League is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne with each team representing one of twelve Victorian regions, while a thirteenth team from Tasmania was reintroduced in 2019.
The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales and the Ovens and Murray area. The name comes from the Ovens River, the river in the part of north-eastern Victoria covered by the league, and the Murray River, which separates Victoria and New South Wales.
Australian rules football is the most watched and second most participated code of football in Victoria. Australian rules football originated in Melbourne in the late 1850s and grew quickly to dominate the sport, which it continues to. Victoria has more than double the number of players of any other state in Australia accounting for approximately 42% of all Australian players in 2023 and continues to grow strongly. Soccer is the only football code that is more popular than Australian rules in Victoria, though it has made up much ground lost to soccer over previous decades. Today, they have a similar number of players. The sport is governed by AFL Victoria based in Melbourne. The national governing body, the AFL Commission is also based in Melbourne.
Steven Leigh Johnson is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club and the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Australian Football League (AFL). He was selected by Geelong with pick 24 in the 2001 AFL Draft. His first few years were plagued with inconsistency, injury and off-field problems. A medium-sized forward, Johnson is renowned for his freakish ability on the field, where he has consistently wowed fans with his penchant for extraordinary goals.
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The Wangaratta Magpies Football Club, officially known as the Wangaratta Magpies Football & Netball Club, is an Australian rules football club, which first played in the Ovens and Murray Football League in 1893 and is based in Wangaratta, Victoria at the Wangaratta Showgrounds and play on the Norm Minns Oval.
The 1928 VFL season was the 32nd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Victoria. The season featured twelve clubs, ran from 21 April until 29 September, and comprised an 18-game home-and-away season followed by a finals series featuring the top four clubs.
Garry Thomas Sidebottom was an Australian rules football player who played for the St Kilda, Geelong and Fitzroy Football Clubs in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and Swan Districts in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) during the 1970s and 1980s.
Steele Sidebottom is a professional Australian rules football player currently playing for the Collingwood Football Club in the Australian Football League.
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Luke Dahlhaus is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Geelong Football Club and Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL). He received a nomination for the 2011 AFL Rising Star award in round 21 of the 2011 season. Dahlhaus was a member of the Bulldogs team that won the premiership in 2016, the Bulldogs' first in 62 years.
Taylor Adams is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He previously played for the Greater Western Sydney Giants from 2012 to 2013 and the Collingwood Football Club from 2014 to 2023.
The 2000 Victorian Football League season was the 119th season of the Australian rules football competition. The premiership was won by the Sandringham Football Club, after defeating North Ballarat by 31 points in the Grand Final on 27 August.
Tom Phillips is an Australian rules footballer who most recently played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).
Rebecca Webster is an Australian rules footballer with the Geelong Football Club in the AFL Women's (AFLW).
The Talent League Girls is an under-19 Australian rules football representative competition held in Australia. It is based on geographic regions throughout country Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne with each team representing twelve Victorian regions, while a thirteenth team from Tasmania was introduced in 2019.
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