1991
From disappointing straight sets exits after finishing top two in 1974 and 1975, Tocumwal had another lean period, finishing near the bottom of the ladder for the next 11 years except for a lone finals appearance in 1982.
After winning 1 match in the 1986 in a disastrous year with a disgruntled and fractured club, the committee appointed favourite son Robert Crow as coach to re-unite the club. Despite a winless 1987, the club was united and set about to become a force in the league again. The beginning of 1988 started with a "Tocumwal to be great in '88" campaign with a Sportsmans Dinner held at the Memorial Hall with 300 in attendance to hear club and VFL legend Alan Jeans speak.
With the town behind the club and its President Jim Cullen and with hard work from Garry Farrell and Rob Crow on the recruiting front, it recruited GVFL star Stuart Roe and Jerilderie speedster Trevor Given and as luck would have it one of the best players in country football in ex Wang Rovers star Neville Pollard bought a farm at Toc, John McGowan moved to the Bowling Club restaurant and a tough fullback in Gary Neville moved to Toc as his parents ran the Terminus Hotel.
At that time youngsters in Michael Wass, John Cullen, Jeff Reid and Scott Eddy were coming through and the experienced Rob Crow, Geoff Quick, Mark O'Hora, Mark Phelan, Darren Reynolds and Keven Haynes were all looking forward to winning games again.
Tocumwal climbed from last on the ladder to finish third and after defeating ladder leaders and premiership favourites Finley for the firsr time in 11 years at Finley by an emphatic 7 goals were in a bouyant mood going into their first serious finals assault for 15 years.
The Bloods easily defeated Mulwala in the Qualifying Final then met Finley in the Second Semi Final. The Cats heirarchy were later to reveal that the only side they feared could derail their flag ambitions were the Bloods (see story on Tocumwal-Finley rivalry) and devoted all their planning to defeating Tocumwal. And defeat the Bloods they did, playing a very physical game which resulted in Tocumwal being well beaten and ending the game with 5 or 6 players with significant injuries and limped into the Preliminary final to be overrun by a resurgent Jerilderie. The Cats always had the Demons measure and won the Grand Final easily.
Don Elgin joined the committee and was a key man in recruiting several topline players to the club.
In 1989 Tocumwal appointed Stuart Roe as coach and recruited brothers Matthew and Adrian McClelland and Greg Murrowood to bolster the bigman department, topped up their list mid season with a brilliant centre half back in Peter Gittos, rovers Steve Allen and Steve Richardson and defenders Greg Kirkman and Murray Crawford joined the club, while Paul Dedrick returned to the club from overseas mid season
The Bloods had a big win over Berrigan in round 1 which took them to the top of the ladder where they remained all season--something of a record!!
Despite that ,a talent-laden Jerilderie were flag favourites and duly won the second semi final and Tocumwal then faced Mulwala in the Preliminary Final. After a poor first half the Bloods trailled by 9 goals late in the second quarter but then staged one of the club's greatest comebacks to dominate the second half to go on to win by 38 points. Jerilderie proved too strong in the decider but the Demons were regarded as one of the best teams in the entire VCFL at the time.
In 1990 Tocumwal recruited a speedy winger in Tony Smith and a young Blighty centre half forward in Mark Savage crossed to a better standard football after moving home after a stint in the St Kilda lower grades.
Another batch of youngsters in Dean Glanvill and Todd O'Neill were coming through the ranks to add depth to the squad. Tocumwal ground was waterlogged coming into the finals after a wet August and the river running a banker so finals matches were transferred to Berrigan. Barooga upset the Bloods and then Tocumwal faced a danger game against Cobram (at Cobram) with injuries to their two ruck man in Adrian McClelland and Greg Murrowood. Rob Crow stepped into the breach to ruck against the 200cm Brett Chadband and Crow's leap destroyed his opponent and set the Bloods on the way to victory.
The Bloods then rebounded against Barooga and were confident going into the Grand Final against Mulwala. In one of the best Grand Finals seen for a long time in front of a record crowd the Lions won over the Bloods in a high scoring nail biter by 8 points.
A couple of gettable goals late in the game were blamed for the defeat but the Bloods dominated the game early but were not able to put scoreboard pressure on Mulwala.
Tocumwal were despondent and felt they may not get another chance at a flag but it was unfinished business and most players signed on again for 1991.
Tocumwal appointed a tough centreman from Shepp United in Phil Nicholson as coach and recruited a strong marking full forward in Darren Brookes and a mobile and skilled ruckman in Craig Symons. Brookes became the first Tocumwal player to kick 100 goals in a season and easily won the MFL's leading goalkicker award.
Previous coach Stuart Roe stayed on and a young local ruckman in Andrew Scott returned from school and a smart half forward in Brad Clarke moved to Tocumwal.
The Bloods were the dominant team in 1991 and finished on top of the ladder then met arch rival Finley in the Second Semi Final. For three quarters it was an arm wrestle before the Bloods broke away to run out 22 point victors and head to their third Grand Final in a row.
The week leading up to the decider was wet and it was cold and rained all day on Grand Final day, but after an even first half which had the Tocumwal supporters feeling uneasy at halftime, the Bloods dominated the second half, kicking 8 goals while keeping the Cats goalless after half time. The Bloods were never going to let this one slip.
Tocumwal won 12-20-92 to 5-7-37.
Mark Savage at CHF held on to his marks and handled the greasy ball with aplomb to be a key player and Phil Nicholson won hard ball in the middle and just drove his charges on with inspirational play. Stuart Roe got through a power of work on the ball to be named player of the match while Tony Smith on a wing gave the Bloods a dominant centreline. In defence Neville Pollard, Rob Crow and Peter Gittos formed a formidable half back line.
Brad Clark, Scott Eddy and Geoff Quick were busy rotating across half forward and with Savage gave Tocumwal a winning forward line.
Tocumwal did not have a bad player in the Grand Final and 32 scoring shots to 12 underlined the Bloods' dominance in the match.
It was so cold after the game that by the time the presentations were completed several Tocumwal players were blue and almost suffering from hypothermia.
Darren Reynolds had the family bragging rights as his brother Stephen played for the Cats.
The match had its spiteful moments in keeping with the long history of Tocumwal-Finley rivalry with a number of reports, namely Tocumwal's Darren Brookes, Phil Nicholson and Mark Savage and Finley's Mick Taylor.
The outcome of the Tribunal sitting has been lost in the mists of time and it is not clear if the reports were thrown out before the Tribunal heard them.
1991 Premiers
Tocumwal 2-5 4-14 7-17 12-20-92
Finley 2-4 5-4 5-7 5-7-37
Best: Tocumwal: M. Savage, S. Roe, G.Quick, T. Smith, P. Nicholson, N. Pollard, T. O'Neill , P Dedrick
Finley: M. Taylor, S. Reynolds, R. Mildenhall, K.Lawrence, M. O'Bryan
Goals: Tocumwal: G. Quick 2, D. Brookes 2, M. Savage 2, B. Clarke 2, S.Eddy 2, T. Smith 1, A. Scott 1
Finley: S Reynolds 2, R. Mildenhall 1, M. Taylor 1, D. Jackson 1
