SWCC Families Series: The Cutlers

South Warrandyte is at its heart a family club, and we’ll be celebrating some of these families in a series of blogs over the coming months and years. The first family is the Cutlers!

Dave Cutler joined the club in 1993 as an 8-year-old, the following year his Dad, Rich player his first game for South, and Rob joined as a junior in 1996.

Rich was already a seasoned cricketer and joining at the age of 37, you could forgive us for thinking we might only get a few seasons out of him on the park. How wrong we were! At 65 Rich is still a key player in the vets and turns out a few times a season for our seniors as well. Bowling off 2 steps “magic” hits an immaculate length and has all the tricks in his kit bag. It’s a right of passage for a South junior to come through the ranks and play with Rich. You get to a variety of quality one-liners that often have a deeper meaning behind them. And of course, no matter who it is batting on the other team you’ll get to hear the famous “common guys, this is the guy we talked about Thursday night”.

However, Rich’s nice guy exterior should not fool you, he is one of the most competitive blokes you will ever meet. On one famous night down at Colman, Rich was so annoyed at his teams' lack of appealing on the Saturday that he had everyone practice their appealing in the nets as if it was a game for the whole session!

However, arguably Rich's greatest contribution to the South was to bring down his sons. David is everything that optimizes South Warrandyte on the field. Tough, disciplined, and just a little bit cheeky. In his day, “Cuts” was one of the greatest fielders the club has ever seen, getting 7 run-outs in a single season, and he still has a better arm than most blokes half his age. David has played in 5 South Warrandyte premierships, including 2 in the space of 7 days last season. He is the last player to score a century for the club in the RDCA’s top division (Chandler Shield then). David was also named as South Warrandyte captain following the retirement of Steve Garret but sadly did his ACL on the eve of the season.

Memorably Dave finished a one-day game with 3 sixes in the last 3 balls to move from 82 to 100*.
*WATCH THE VIDEO HERE*: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=625869115109353

Rob “Gurtz” Cutler could not have batted more differently to his brother, he hit bombs. A first X1 repetitive himself, Rob is remembered for intentionally head-butting bouncers to the boundary before we knew much about concussions. He played in 1 flag and pioneered the most successful technique to date for finding balls that have landed in the long grass over the fence at Colman. He simply laid down flat on the ground, put his arms out, and rolled down the hill until felt the ball as he rolled, genius!

Recently, Rob and Dave’s kids participated in our Junior Blast program, making it 3 generations of Cutlers at South.