Yze set to dazzle

by PAUL DAFFEY

SINCE beginning his coaching career a decade ago, Perry Meka has pulled off some recruiting coups. But nothing matches his achievement in signing his cousin Damien Yze, the brother of Melbourne midfielder Adem, over the Easter weekend.

Meka was staying with Damien in Melbourne. Inevitably, Meka turned the conversation to football and badgered his cousin to join him at Ardmona, 20 kilometres outside Shepparton.

The lure was the chance to play with family. Damien's youngest brother, Ramadan, is the Ardmona captain and Avni Bekirofski, a relative by marriage, is centre half-back.

Meka, at 36 years of age, said he would combine playing and coaching in the hope of kicking 50 goals to bring his tally to 2000 in senior football. Then he would hang up the boots. This would be the final chance for them to play together.

Finally, Meka pointed to Damien's record of playing in three consecutive premierships at Diamond Valley league club Northcote Park. "What are you going to do now?" he said. "Go for a fourth? Then what? A fifth? It's my last year and Rama's captain.

"Come and play with us."

Damien Yze woke up the next morning and surprised his cousin by announcing that he would join Ardmona. Meka was on the phone to his committee within minutes.

Later that morning, a player who started the previous season on the supplementary list at Essendon was signed up to play in the Kyabram district league. It is the most significant heist in country football this season.

The talent of Damien Yze is recognised from AFL officials through to those who remember him kicking 109 goals in the Shepparton United under-18 side. He followed that season with a promising year in the United seniors before moving to Melbourne to take up a cricket scholarship.

Under the direction of Dav Whatmore at the Victorian Institute of Sport, he played senior cricket with Richmond and St Kilda and agreed to give up football. But the itch to have a kick got the better of him.

He returned to Shepparton United for one match and kicked nine goals in the first half. Whatmore read about Yze's eventual tally of 10 in the newspapers and sounded him out about his commitment to cricket.

Yze was faltering. He missed playing football and he was unimpressed by attempts to diminish his role as an all-rounder. "They wanted to turn me into a bowler, so I quit," he said.

He resumed playing football at Werribee, where he was used as a dual centre half-forward. The next year he was in the reserves at Melbourne, where he played the odd game with his brother Adem.

The Demons sent Damien packing after one season. Meka heard the news and kindly offered his cousin a new home at Goulburn Valley league club Tongala, where he was coaching. "If you know Perry, he's pretty persuasive," Yze said.

Yze continued to live in Melbourne while playing at Tongala. He solved the issue of training by joining cricket friends who were playing football at Northcote Park.

The Diamond Valley club, which plays at the ground of former VFA club Northcote, in Westgarth Street, liked what they saw in the silky forward. At every training session, when the time came to split the squad into seniors and reserves, the coaching staff ignored the practice of shunting country interlopers in with the seconds and invited Yze to train with the vaunted senior squad.

The gesture impressed Yze. "They treated me pretty well." He signed with Northcote Park for the 1999 season.

Stephen Easton, the former North Melbourne and Carlton forward, coached Yze for his first two years at Northcote Park. He described the key forward as temperamental. "Some blokes are easy to coach; some are more difficult. Damien really is a unique person."

Easton played Yze mainly at full forward, where his marking strength and goal sense earned repeated hauls. But Yze's superior ability enabled him to coast. Easton tried to keep his mind on the job by playing him in defence and in the midfield.

In one game, the coach forced Yze to play at full-back for three quarters. At the final change, he switched the angry star to full-forward.

Yze responded by kicking five goals in a quarter. After every goal, he entertained spectators by screaming across the ground to the coach's box. "He made a point of telling me, 'This is where I should have been all day'," Easton said.

In the middle of the 2000 season, Easton frowned on Yze's party tricks in the goalsquare and moved him upfield. "He was getting a bit excited," the coach said. ÔI thought I'd try to get him to handball in a crunch situation - but it didn't work."

Yze waltzed forward to kick goals from half-back before Easton relented. Yze responded to the coach's nerve at moving him out of attack by booting 50 goals in the last five games.

In the grand final against West Preston, he booted 10 to bring his tally to 99. After the siren had signalled a resounding victory to Northcote Park, Yze lined up for his 100th goal of the season from 50 metres out on the boundary.

He missed by a whisker and spent large chunks of the celebrations hounding Easton about wasting him upfield in the middle of the season. "He was convinced that I hated him," Easton said. "We spent more time arguing than talking, but it was a good relationship."

Easton, who now coaches second-division club Whittlesea, his fifth Diamond Valley club in 17 years, said Yze was easily the best player he's coached.

Carlton premiership defender Peter Dean, a teammate of Yze in the past three Northcote Park premierships, said the brilliant forward should have played in the AFL. "But he's a bit of a casual kid."

Yze is 187cm tall and weighs 86kg. Dean said he's too fast for bulky opponents and too strong for those who rely on pace. Diamond Valley clubs struggled to match up on him in the way that Anthony Koutoufides is a handful for AFL opponents.

Dean took over as Northcote Park coach early this year, when Vin Hanlon stepped down after one season because he was unable to recover from a back operation. Dean planned to isolate Yze against his opponent in the 50-metre arc, with the occasional run upfield. "He could still kick three or four goals from half-back."

Dean, who is still playing at 37 years of age, was devastated when Yze joined Ardmona a fortnight before the season. He wanted to build his side around him.

He told Yze of his disappointment before admitting he would give anything to play with family. Dean's commitments in Melbourne have prevented him playing with his three younger brothers in the Bendigo region. He wished Yze all the best at Ardmona. "He's welcome back any time."

Yze began the season at Ardmona with a best-afield performance at centre half-forward. A product of the large Albanian community in Shepparton, the 27-year-old took marks and wheeled forward while speaking to teammates in the language of his father.

After one season with the Albanian connection at Ardmona, there's every chance he'll return to Melbourne. Fans in northern Victoria should see him dazzle while they can.

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