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MARK GAUCI - OUR NEW PRESIDENT
Life Member and inaugural Hall of Fame inductee Mark Gauci has been elected President of the Moonee Valley Cricket Club.
Mark was elected unopposed to the highest office of our club at our annual general meeting on July 20, held at the Moonee Ponds Club.
He replaces Graeme "Charlie" Walker, who had been President for the past 18 years.
Mark had been Vice President since 2018/19.
Charlie did not seek re-election as President but instead nominated himself for the Secretary position - and was elected unopposed.
Our youngest Life Member, Jack Newman was elected Vice President. Tom Janetzki was elected Treasurer.
Allan Cumming, who had been Treasurer for three years, did not seek re-election to that role. He instead nominated as Assistant Secretary, and was elected unopposed.
 Sarah Fenn, our Secretary for the past two years, stepped down from that role due to work commitments, and was elected to the general committee.
At right: Newly-elected Moonee Valley Cricket Club President Mark Gauci (left) congratulates his predecessor Charlie Walker.
The Gauch, who is Moonee Valley's games record-holder with 440 and is also second on our list for all-time most runs, is one of our Club's most decorated players. He is a two-time premiership captain, including our First Eleven premiership year in 2009/10. He was Club Champion in 2005/06 and won the Lindsay Jones Best Clubman award in 2018/19.
Mark Gauci has also coached our club and is regarded as one of the most influential and respected people around our organisation.
After his election as President, Mark wrote a touching tribute to his predecessor:
Tonight we celebrate a man whose contribution to the Moonee Valley Cricket Club is simply impossible to measure.
Charlie Walker has dedicated the last 25 years to this club—7 years as Junior Coordinator and 18 years as Senior President. When you stop and think about it, that’s more than one-third of our club’s entire history spent leading, building and caring for Moonee Valley Cricket Club.
Titles like President and Junior Coordinator only tell part of the story.
The real story is everything that happened behind the scenes that most people never saw.
Charlie was the first one here and often the last one to leave. He made the afternoon teas, attended association meetings, marked the outfields, prepared the main wicket, put out the witches’ hats on both ovals, helped with team selections, supported our coaches, assisted our women’s team, hosted countless events, cleaned the clubrooms, dealt with the football and soccer clubs, and took care of a thousand other jobs that never appeared on an agenda and rarely attracted any recognition.
The truth is, if something needed doing around this club, Charlie just did it.
He never looked for praise. He never asked for recognition. He simply cared about this club and the people in it.
Because of Charlie’s dedication, generations of players—juniors, seniors, women, volunteers and supporters—have enjoyed a stronger, more welcoming and better-run cricket club.
On a personal note, I feel incredibly honoured to have been entrusted with the role of President. Following someone like Charlie is no easy task, and I know I have very big shoes to fill.
The good news for me—and for the club—is that Charlie isn’t going anywhere. He has stepped into the role of Secretary, and I know he’ll do an outstanding job there, just as he has in every role he’s ever taken on. I’ll certainly be leaning on his experience, knowledge and advice, and I’m grateful that he’ll still be such an important part of our leadership team.
Charlie, on behalf of everyone who has ever worn the black and white of the Moonee Valley Cricket Club, thank you.
Thank you for your leadership.
Thank you for your selflessness.
Thank you for your countless hours of volunteer work.
Thank you for putting this club before yourself, year after year.
You are more than a past President. You are more than a volunteer.
You are a true legend of the Moonee Valley Cricket Club, and your legacy will be felt here for many years to come.
The passing of Valley great Kevin Gardiner
We are sad to advise the passing of Moonee Valley Cricket Club Life Member and inaugural Hall of Fame inductee Kevin Gardiner.
Kevin, 66, had been ill for some time and passed away on the morning of July 9. Kevin and Virginia have three sons Terry, John and Leo. All played junior cricket at Moonee Valley and each had a taste of senior cricket with our club.
 Juniors were Kevin's passion and he served seven years as our Junior Co-ordinator and another six years on the general committee, finishing up in 2018/19.
At right: Kevin Gardiner and wife Virginia at the 2026 Hall of Fame presentation, with son Terry.
He then coached our Under 10s for multiple seasons and had further junior involvement running our Milo Have A Go/Blast programs.
A two-time Premiership player, Kevin was presented our Lindsay Jones Best Clubman award in 2006/07.
He won seven bowling awards in his 233-game career spanning 1975 to 2025, scoring 1190 runs and taking 269 wickets.
But Kevin's profound contribution to the Moonee Valley Cricket Club over six decades goes well past his onfield exploits.
He was willing to take on any task that needed doing, and in more recent years took on the role of ordering, collecting and distributing the match balls for every senior and junior team.
Kevin was universally admired and respected by players of all grades at our club, as well as juniors and their parents for his genuine interest and involvement in everyone and everything.
He always had a good word for anyone who pulled on a Moonee Valley cap and enjoyed mixing socially with them.
Kevin was one of our four inaugural inductees to the Moonee Valley Hall of Fame along with Darren Nagle, Ian Denny and Mark Gauci, and revelled in the function where they were presented with their plaques at a gala event in the Ormond Park pavilion on February 7 this year.
Each of the inductees was interviewed in a Q&A on the stage by a significant fellow member of the club who impacted their career - Kevin by Bill Nagel.
Kevin's cricket career began when he followed his older brother Peter down to Moonee Valley - the late PG is also a Life Member of our club.
Kevin, you have made a profound impact on the Moonee Valley Cricket Club, and we mourn your passing.
****Kevin's funeral will be held at St Brendan's Catholic Church, 103 Wellington St. Flemington at 10.30am on Friday July 24, followed by the burial at Fawkner Memorial Park at 12.30. People can post a message or a tribute to Kevin at https://tobinbrothers.com.au/tribute/kevinjoseph-gardiner-2605270/
TEAMS HONORING NIGEL COWAN
The winter comp teams of Moonee Valley and Barkly Street Uniting got together during our Round 7 game on July 4 to honor the passing of Nigel Cowan, who had an association with both clubs.
Nigel was a member of Moonee Valley's Executive as Secretary in 2018/19, after serving on the general committee in the previous season.  His son Nigel Junior, now using the preferred name Ashley, played 46 games for Moonee Valley across both winter and summer seasons, commencing in 2017.
Nigel Snr had a vast knowledge of cricket, having umpired in the Victorian Turf Cricket Association across many seasons and spending time as the VTCA Umpires' Adviser.
Even after Ashley moved on to other clubs, Nigel Snr stayed in touch with Moonee Valley and closely followed our fortunes. He passed away in March.
Ashley, currently in Vietnam, was made aware of the event by both clubs to honor his father, and expressed his appreciation through his close friend Andreas Skiotis, who is a member of our Moonee Valley Committee.
Moonee Valley appoints our new coach
Moonee Valley Cricket Club has appointed New Zealander Sakthi (Shak) Prasad as our new coach, and we welcome him to our club.
Shak was appointed after last season's coach Brayden McGregor stood down due to work commitments. Brayden continues as a player. 
Shak holds a Level 3 ICC coaching qualification as well as Level 1 and 2 Australian coaching certificates. As well as coaching our senior teams, he is keen to have a close involvement with our junior program.
Here's his first message to our club:
Hi everyone, it’s great to be joining the club and I’m looking forward to meeting you all soon.
Cricket is my passion and I’ve played my whole life beginning in Chennai India, where I used a piece of wood and a rubber ball for street cricket. I just wanted to play.
I took the coaching side more seriously when I did my Australia Level 1 and 2 around 2018 and was invited to Dubai to complete my ICC Level 3 in 2019. I am also a NZ cricket umpire. Continuing to learn and update my skills is really important to me as it will benefit players.
I’ve been based in New Zealand for the past 5 years, where I set up my own coaching business. One student was picked up for the under 19’s international Samoan team and others have been fast tracked into the Cricket Wellington Pathway Program.
I bring an holistic approach to my coaching as I believe that technical ability and mindset go together. I have a Masters in Social Work and a Degree in Drug and Alcohol Studies and these complement the on-field components.
I bring experience coaching men and women in both a team and one on one format and love to see players having fun and being stretched to reach their peak performance. My coaching style is very calm and casual and my experience enables me to quickly see how to make player improvements.
My expectation is to see everyone enjoy the game and use me to help enhance individual and team capability across the club. Also, training smarter is something that I hope everyone will be on board with and making sure that everyone is aware that they can just come and have a chat with me anytime.
From a training perspective I want ensure everyone is clear on our goals and have an open forum where you can be heard, and know that your individual talent will be recognised when you play.
A little about me - everyone calls me Shak, I love what I do, am a team player, very social, into fitness, and I love to score runs and take wickets (44 was my highest recently in a season). Being a great role model is important to me and as I want to keep cricket alive and thriving.
*CRICKET - COME PLAY AT THE VALLEY
Moonee Valley Cricket Club is always keen to talk to potential new players for our Saturday and Sunday turf teams, our Saturday men's hard-wicket team, our Sunday women's team and junior teams at all levels.
Anyone interested in joining Moonee Valley can phone senior coach Brayden McGregor on 0429 559 797, junior co-ordinator Paul Sevenson on 0407 556 950 or President Charlie Walker on 0411 705 381. Anyone wanting information can also email us at [email protected]
Main Club contact details:
* Mark Gauci - President 0457 778 335
* Charlie Walker - Secretary 0411 705 381; 9370 1802
* Allan Cumming - Assistant Secretary 0438 380 990
* Jack Newman - Vice President 0413 167 461
* Tom Janetzki - Treasurer 0455 231 620
* Paul Sevenson - Junior Co-ordinator - 0407 556 950
Emails: [email protected]
[email protected]
For more contacts, see " Office bearers & Officials " under "Club News & Info" at the top of the page
Last updated : July 21, 2026.
For more of our history, including our Premierships, click HERE
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OUR UPCOMING EVENTS
*Winter Comp - next game Round 9 v Kingsville, Saturday July 25 - Fairbairn Park No. 7, midday.
*Annual General Meeting 7.15pm Monday, July 20 - Moonee Ponds Club
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