The Kangaroos will be at Rochester Recreation Reserve on Monday, February 13, and coach Alistair Clarkson will join with football manager Todd Viney later in the day to address a business and community group.
An AFL free footy 4 Fun clinic for five to 12-year-olds will be held at Moon Oval by the Kangaroos from 4pm until 5pm
Two days later, on Wednesday, February 15, players and officials from reigning premier Geelong will also be visiting Moon Oval.
Rochester Football Netball Club’s Rob Aiken said the Tigers had made contact with Geelong before Christmas, but due to chief executive officer Steve Hocking being on holidays had not heard back until recently.
A group from the club will be taking the cup to Echuca and then continuing on to Rochester, hoping to lift the spirits of the many flood-affected residents of the towns.
As with the North Melbourne visit the Cats stopover in Rochester will also involve the town’s two primary schools and some of the secondary college students.
“We only found last Thursday that the visit had been confirmed. We are expecting the Geelong players to be at Moon Oval from 10am until 11am,” Mr Aiken said.
“They are arriving at the fire station at 9am and then will bring the cup down to the football ground on the back of a fire truck.
“We are pretty confident we will get a good crowd.”
Geoff Sharp, who grew up in Rochester, is involved with one of Geelong’s major coterie groups, The Pivotoninans (which was the original nickname of Geelong Football Club).
Geelong was originally called Pivot City when settlers landed here in the early 1800s, mainly because of Corio Bay being naturally deep, which allowed tall ships from England to arrive closer to land.
