Football
10 June, 2025
Summers back and in scorching form
The Wimmera Football Netball League is seven weeks into its season, and Paul Summers, from Stawell Warriors Football and Netball Club, is leading the way in the league's goal kicking.
Summers, 25, has booted 39 goals this season and sits 15 goals ahead of Ararat's Tom Williamson.
After a season with Swifts Football Netball Club in the Horsham District Football Netball League last year, Summers is relishing being back with the club he first joined in 2015.
Perry Meka, who coaches along with James Sullivan at the club and is also the coach of the forwards, said Summers returned to Stawell from his season with the Swifts brimming with confidence.
"I think that is where he drew a lot of his confidence from," Meka said.
"He has come back, hasn't missed a training, including all preseason, his brother plays for us, and his Dad and Mum come to every game, he's been a good leader for the club, to be honest.
"I have a fair bit to do with Pauly, as coach of the forwards as well, and he has just been fantastic."
So fantastic, Meka said, he credited Summers for their win against Dimboola last Saturday.
"He won the game for us – I will put my hand up and say that," Meka said.
"In that last quarter he stood up and took some sensational marks and kicked some clutch goals that put us in front in the dying stages of the game."
Asked why he thought Summers came back from the Swifts a changed player, Meka said he believed it came from being able to focus on the one position.
"I think he played in different positons when he was at the club earlier in his career and then having that year there where he played purely as a forward, I think it gave him some renewed confidence and he has come back to try it at a higher standard and continued with his form," Meka said.
"He's really bought into how we set up our forward line, and we do set up to score freely.
"That's the style we as coaches want to put out there on the field: a high-scoring style of footy."
Meka has also been impressed with how Summers plays as a team.
"What is good about Paul is that he, along with Cody (Driscoll) down there, they block for each other.
"They don't care who kicks them as long as in that last line we get the goals kicked.
"They help each other and they are playing their role, and one week Pauly is on the end of it and kicks a bag, and the other week it might be Cody, but they are great for each other."
Confident on the field, Summers was more humble and reserved off the field when chatting about his goal-kicking form so far this season.
He confirmed he had moved to the Swifts last season, looking for a change of scenery, planning to see how things went, but was lured back to Stawell after the appointment of Sullivan and Meka as coaches.
Summers agreed the change was as good as a holiday for him and said it was good to experience another league and hit the button to refresh.
"It was always a 'see what happens' kind of thing as to if I would return to Stawell, but when I heard they had signed Sully and Perry, that made me keen to come back and see what they are about," Summers said.
And now, not only is Summers the leading goal kicker for the league but he's also enjoying playing footy with his brother, Owen, and a lot of his mates.
"My brother is having basically his first full year in the seniors this year so it's been good to come back and play with him," he said.
With one playing in the forward and the other in the back line, Summers said they could get competitive at training.
"We've got to play on each other then and we do have a few scuffles," he laughed.
Asked if he had a sequence he followed before kicking for goal, Summers said he preferred to keep it simple.
"Just walk back, clear my head, make sure everything is straight and that I make good contact with the footy – that's it," he said.
"But before the game at half-time, I do like to go out and kick a few shots up one end, and then at three-quarter-time I hopefully have a few shots up the other end to get a feel for the conditions and the ground."
And as a forward, Summers revealed his favourite ground wasn't his club's home turf, in Central Park, but for good reason.
"Believe it or not, I'd rather play on a bigger oval," he said.
"Central Park being so small, but it's still good playing at home.
"But at a bigger ground the pockets are wider, so if you mark it on the boundary line, it doesn't feel like you're on the boundary."
Although he said he believed Ararat was the side to beat this season, Summers said his side would give it their best shot.
"It's possible, though," he said.
"But we've got to make it to finals first and go from there."
