Craig Fruend’s pastime these days is fishing……He regularly dangles a line with his old footy team-mate, Rob Walker……
“We’ve been out a half a dozen times this year……Went up to Lake Hume when it got pretty wet around here, but normally we head over to Mulwala….”
“We both caught the fishing bug when I joined him at the Rovers, 30-odd years back……We’ve remained great mates…..”
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I advise ‘Fruey’ I’ve got a ‘catchy’ intro embedded in my mind for a potential yarn – ‘The Family that Bowls Together, Stays Together’……”
For the last few years Craig, his wife Jodie and now-21 year-old son Ethan had comprised part of Wangaratta’s Ovens & Murray A1 Division Pennant team.
To me, as a non-bowler, that seemed no mean feat……
“Sorry to stuff up your story, KB,” he quips…..”I’ve had to give Bowls away this year……it’s just the time-factor…plus, I’m working a lot of Saturday mornings….”
“If you want to play at a decent standard you’ve gotta practice……So, training twice a week, bowling Saturday arvo and sometimes Sundays, and trying to do a few Reno’s at home….. not much gets done….”
Nevertheless, I’m intrigued to find how the Fruend’s came to be so heavily involved in the sport of Bowls……
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Music was Jodie’s passion in her younger days…… She sang in a couple of local bands; originally with the ‘Silhouettes’’, then with the popular ‘Second Nature’, alongside Reg LenGrand and John Hammersley.
“When I was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, Dad (Joe Dalton) suggested I take up Bowls, to take my mind off everything,” she says.
“So I joined the Ovens Club and thoroughly enjoyed it……one of the best decisions I’ve ever made…….”
She won 5 Club Championships at Ovens, before transferring to the Wangaratta Bowls Club, where she has captured another two titles.
After becoming the O & M Champion of Champions in 2012, she clinched the State Singles crown nine years later, by defeating World Champ Kylie Whitehead in a riveting contest.
During a highly successful 2022 season, Jodie won her second straight State Singles crown and, combining with Renee Hill and Rhianna Smith, took out the O & M Triples.
She’s represented Victoria on seven occasions, against NSW and Tasmania………
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Ethan played soccer as a young fellah, but Rovers Thirds coach Matt Allen had an inkling that the gangling under-ager might have the makings of a ruckman……
In his fourth game, aged 16, he snapped his tibia/fibula…….His dream of emulating his dad’s accomplishments with the Hawks had ended……Furthermore, he was advised not to consider playing any more contact sport……
“Jodie urged him to come down and try Bowls…..And he hasn’t looked back….” says Craig.
In a sport in which the teen-ager was sometimes pitted against guileful veterans in their 50’s, 60’s, even mid-70’s, Ethan soon made his mark.
He represented Victoria’s Under 18’s against South Australia in 2020….Two years later, he and Adrian Pantling took out the O & M and State Pair’s Championship, and shared a Bronze Medal in Pair’s at the National Titles.
He captured the Wangaratta Club Singles championship in 2022 and 2023, and was the O & M Champ of Champs in 2022…….
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Originally,Craig used to go along and watch Jodie bowling……. Ethan was in a lower division at that stage, and he found it hard to keep an eye on both of them…..
In the end he decided: ‘Geez, I’m coming down here that bloody often……might as well have a go at it myself’….”
Ethan soon moved up to the top division with Jodie, so he thought: ‘If I’m gonna play, I want to be in their team”……..He practiced for a year, to make sure he was capable of stepping up to the higher standard……
He improved to such an extent that he won the Club Singles Championship in 2020…….and became a member of the A1 Pennant team.
“It was fantastic for the three of us to be playing together,”he says.
Wangaratta has developed a reputation for being the Bridesmaid of O & M Pennant Bowls Finals….
“I think we’ve only won the top Pennant title once in something like 100 years…….That’s a fair indication of the noose that’s been hanging around our neck,” Craig says.
“The first year I played, we were unbeaten going into the Finals, then went out in straight sets…..lost the Grand Final the next year…… and bowed out in straight sets again in 2022…Talk about the Colliwobbles ! ……”
“Wodonga have won something like 20 out of the last 25 titles, and Yarrawonga & Border are another team which gives us no end of trouble……We’ve got to win one eventually…..”
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Fortunately, ‘Fruey’ experienced no such problem during his glittering football career……..
In his prime he was rated possibly the finest full back in country Victoria…….athletic, dashing….able to physically tangle with the goliaths of the goal-square……and even move forward to kick a goal if needs be…..
But he was somewhat of a reluctant starter.
He played midget footy at around 11-12, and was coaxed to the Rovers Thirds five or so years later by their coach Alan White, who happened to be his Tech School Principal.
Whilst several youngsters – later to become premiership team-mates – were starring in the Rovers’ unlikely 1988 Senior flag triumph, he helped the baby Hawks to victory in the curtain-raiser.
His inability to get time off work early enough to play with the Reserves the following season, prompted the unpretentious ‘Fruey’ to head out to North Wangaratta for his footy-fix.
The Rovers looked longingly from afar, as he proved a ready-made key-position player, winning North’s B & F in 1991 and becoming their mainstay in defence.
He was lured back to the Findlay Oval in 1994…..
“I was always going to return at some stage,” he recalls.
“I decided to have another crack at it….and really enjoyed it…..O & M footy was a completely different scenario…….Social-wise, the Rovers were no better or worse than North Wang , but it was a great Club to be around.”
“The team we had back then were the ultimate professionals…… Walker, the Wilson’s, Pasquali, Caruso, Tossol and the rest……all top-line players.”
“You had to bust your gut to get a spot, so you had to approach the game a lot more professionally…….”
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The Hawks went through the 1994 home-and-away rounds without lowering their colours, finishing four wins and a staggering 74% in front of the nearest opposition.
They trounced Wodonga by 76 points in the Second Semi-Final, and were red-hot favourites heading into the Grand Final, having won 34 games on end.
The one-sided contest at the Wangaratta’s Norm Minns Oval, was to provide Craig with his career highlight….
The ‘Border-Mail’ described the match as such:
“When 20 Wangaratta Rovers players got out of bed on Sunday morning they all knew what had to be done to win the O & M premiership…..”
“They had to carry out their plans with efficiency and determination, not allowing Wodonga to stand in the way of the prospect of being ranked with the best in the league’s history….”
“Right from the start the Hawks were in control, and with five goals to nothing, opened up a gap which they would build on as the match progressed.”
“They hit the ball hard, tackled ferociously and were not fazed as the going got tough on and off the ball….”
“The Robbie Walker Show was in full flight, although terrier Mick Caruso, Peter Tossol and defenders Craig Fruend and Bruce Yelland were doing their best to steal some of the limelight.”
“This 1994 side can proudly stand with the greats of the competition……”
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Peter Tossol, who saw plenty of ‘Fruey’ at close quarters, rates a match at Lavington three years later, as his finest:
“He lined up on Chris Stuhldreir, who’d kicked 128 goals the season before, and was within reach of another ‘ton’.”
“ ‘Burty’ said to him: ‘If you can keep him quiet, we’re a chance of winning’. He’s kept Stuhldreir goalless and, what’s more, went downfield and helped himself to a goal in the dying minutes of the game….”
Craig represented the O & M on 15 occasions ( from 1995-‘99), captained the side in 1997, and was a member of three Country Championship-winning sides…….He was rewarded with a Victorian Country guernsey in 1996.
In his 130 senior games with the Rovers, predominantly in defence, he managed to snare 87 goals in his occasional forays forward.
North Wang were rapt to lure him ‘home’ in 2001. They’d hit upon hard times after experiencing premiership success in 1997, and he proved a ray of light, winning Best and Fairests in 2001,’02, ‘03, and ‘04.
He was appointed captain-coach in 2006 and proved a popular, inspiring leader, before Jodie’s cancer diagnosis prompted him to resign and, ultimately, hang up the boots.
“I think I chalked up around 200 games with North…..They’re a terrific club and I made a lot of friends out there, as I did with the Rovers…” he says.
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I was hoping that this yarn might culminate in a happy ending…….. Wangaratta’s A1Pennant team, with Jodie and Ethan Fruend at the forefront, eclipsing arch-rivals Wodonga in last Saturday’s O & M Bowls Preliminary Final…..earning the right to challenge Yarrawonga-Mulwala in this week’s decider……..
After winning 11 games on end they were quietly confident……but alas, the hoodoo continues…….
Ethan, who outpointed Wodonga star Kylie Whitehead by several shots, was a shining light for Wangaratta, but they unfortunately lowered their colours – 81 to 94……
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Craig doesn’t discount the possibility that he might return to Pennant Bowls:
“I play the occasional tournament ……There’s a couple coming up that I’m looking forward to competing in, just for fun…..the problem is I that I can’t get down to practice all that often……..”
ON REFLECTION 