Dolphins swimming nicely in first season under Curnow

A BUZZ is growing along the Great Ocean Road, with Lorne continuing to exceed expectations under its new coach Ed Curnow.

The Dolphins sit atop the Colac & District Football League ladder through seven rounds, alongside reigning premiers and this week’s opponent Alvie.

Curnow, who assumed a playing coach role following the 2023 season and took over the reins over from Alex Adams, said he had been extremely pleased with how his group has opened the season.

“I’ve had a lot of good assistance down there at Lorne so far, a lot of hard work has been done over the past couple years by president Carly Enticott, Miah Atwell and Mark Russell, as well as Al who did a great job of putting the structure in place for this team.

“It’s been a pretty unreal environment to be a part of to this point, not only for myself, but also the family too.

“I’m just really loving it.”

Curnow listed a litany of standout players in his chat with this publication earlier in the week, and also outlined the benefits his coaching staff had provided him in his first season back at the local level.

Lorne forward James Hughes ranks third in the competition for majors after making the move down the coast from Torquay with 21 goals, trailing only Simpson’s Jarrod Garth (25) and Dominic Dare from Alvie (44).

“Charlie McCartin loves spending time down in Lorne with the team as well and has been just unreal, it’s also good to have Tom Steven back and playing even though he did his hamstring last weekend,” Curnow said.

“Other players that have really come on a lot this year are Ted Middleton and Cole Fox. Cole has been great in the midfield, while Ted and his brother Jesse have been awesome as well.”

Curnow said the group was excited to test its mettle against Alvie this weekend on the away deck and will aim to give themselves the best chance at coming away with the win.

“Hopefully we can learn a few things from our first encounter with them this season, because I have a feeling we’ll be playing each other a couple more times later in the year as well.”

Lorne’s next game at Stribling Reserve takes place on Saturday, June 8 when it plays Colac Imperials in Round 9 to round out the first half of the season.