Sport
15 October, 2025
Opening round rivalry
SIMPSON and Cobden cricket clubs will reignite their rivalry in the opening round of the new Colac-South West premier competition.
The match, to be played at the Simpson Recreation Reserve on Saturday, will be the first top grade match for the home team since the 2020/21 season.
New Simpson coach Jackson Rock crossed from Cobden in the off season and will immediately line up against his home club.
“I wasn’t expecting to play against Cobden at all when I made the move, I was just looking forward to some red ball cricket in Colac,” Rock laughed.
“There’s been a good bit of banter, I left on good terms, in a way it’s probably good to get it out of the way straight up.”
Rock said excitement among the playing group had increased as the season inched closer.
“Now it’s come around we’ve really kicked into gear, everyone is excited and up and about.
“We’ve had really great numbers at training with a good mix of ages, having our indoor nets has been a big plus and has got us into a good rhythm.”
Apart from Rock himself, Simpson will also unveil English recruit Ben Smith.
“Ben looks really good, a nice batter with a lovely technique.
“The rest of the team will mostly be the same, the group who’ve done well in division two who are all looking forward to stepping up and who have been putting in the hard yards.”
Rock is well aware of the quality of his former team.
“They’ll be tough to start against given how well they’ve gone the last few years, we’ll get a good gauge of where we are at on Saturday playing against them.”
Reigning South West back to back premiers Cobden are more than ready to hit the 2025/26 season.
“We’ve had really good numbers at training, plenty of enthusiastic young players,” Cobden captain/coach Johno Benallack said.
“Everyone is just keen to play no matter what the competition we are playing in is.”
The match marks the first top level match between the two clubs since round seven of the 2020/21 season, Cobden winning that encounter by 31 runs, 6/255 to Simpson’s 224 all out.
“We haven’t played the Simpson boys for a few years now, they’ve been really strong in division two and have picked up a few, we won’t be taking them lightly.”
Benallack said the Knights had all bought in as a collective for the coming season.
“We had a whole club meeting, instead of saying our goal was to win the flag we have tried to set little goals to tick off.
“We want it to be a whole club thing, to involve the whole group more and have success right through the grades.”
The Cobden leader expected much improvement to continue to come from their talented group of youngsters.
“Those young boys have all got bigger and stronger, they’ll all get lots of opportunities, we’re looking forward to seeing their development.”
Benallack was relaxed heading in to lining up against former longtime Cobden player Rock.
“He’s been dodging us a bit, I’m sure he’ll be a lot more nervous than we are.”