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INFOCUS 2020 – GLEN WAVERLEY HAWKS

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By Steve White

Glen Waverley will put 2019 well and truly behind them after a tough season in the EFNL’s fourth tier.

The Hawks finished seventh on the Division 3 ladder with 3 wins and 15 losses over the course of a rough 2019 campaign, with their three victories coming against relegated Chirnside Park.

However, a new season brings renewed opportunity and incoming first year senior coach Dylan Price is looking to take the blue and gold back to finals football in 2020 as he takes over from Con Borg.

“Being a first time senior coach, one of the things I was keen to get was some experience on board,” Price said.

“I was really lucky to get former Glen Waverley senior coach Mark Fitt to come on board as an assistant.

“Being a younger coach it’s key to relate to the players and develop strong relationships with them, which I honestly think is the most important aspect of the job.

“We had a large player turnover at the start of last season, so it was challenging to bring a new playing group together. I’m hoping to further the work I did with Con last year and hopefully bring some success.”

GWH’s three wins all came against Chirnside Park in 2020. Photo – Field of View Sports Photography

Despite the current adjournment to proceedings across the league, Price is happy with the way his troops were progressing in the preseason.

“Up until the postponement, I couldn’t have been happier with how preseason went,” Price said.

“We had really strong numbers and have brought a lot of new guys into the club, as well as a few guys who didn’t play last year coming back into the fold.

“One of the big pushes from the coaching staff was to make training fun and get the buy-in from the players, which we’ve done so things are all looking good.

“We got one practice match in before everything was postponed which went well.”

Apart from returning to the finals picture, Price is also looking to accomplish other objectives.

“One of the things we’re looking for is better fitness out of our players. We had a number of injuries last season that was possibly because a few guys went in to the season a bit under done,” Price said.

“That’s been the focus of our preseason and the guys have put in a lot of work on the track to get themselves up to match fitness in preseason.

“We haven’t set ourselves a win/loss target for this season and our main objective is to get the guys enjoying playing their footy and playing for each other. If we do that and put in the work then the results will come from there.”

Much of the 2019 Glen Waverley side will run out in the blue and gold again this season and some club favourites have returned to the side for the 2020 tilt.

Dual club best and fairest winner Luke Broad returns to the club this year. Also making his way back into the senior team will be full-back Jack Steinfort, who missed all but two reserves games last year after a stellar 2018. Joining them will be 2019 club best and fairest winner and SEN Division 3 Team of the Year representative, Mitch Potts.

Evan Pickering returns after leading the club with 22 goals in 17 games in 2019. He’ll be joined by club veterans Paul Sinden, Billy Huxtable, Daniel Eastman and Jesse Dunne. Signing on again for season 2020 are the likes of vice-captain Ben Sullivan, Brandon Hodges, Tim Cook, Josh McMillan, Damon Crawford, Ben Hunt and Paul Tyler.

“We did a really big push around the club at the end of last year to retain the players we had and we’ve been really happy with our retention rate,” Price said.

The Hawks have been busy recruiting new blood to the club as well.

Ash Black has returned to the club he played for as a junior and last played with as a 17-year-old in a Division 3 Grand Final. Black has spent the past 6 seasons with Knox in Division 1 and 2, winning a Division 2 premiership with the Falcons in 2017.

Josh Dowling has signed on from AFL Outer East side Narre Warren. Dowling topped the goal kicking in the Premier Division Reserves side last year, booting 54 goals in 18 games for the eventual 2019 premiers.

The Hawks have also recruited youngster Riley Scapin from West Gippland Football Netball side Kilcunda Bass, and will add height and depth to the Hawks’ midfield. Joining him will be fellow Kilcunda Bass teammate Ned Bradley. Standing at 6’5, Bradley will slot into the rucking duties as well as providing height and a target up forward.

We would like to Welcome another new recruit to the Hawks for Season 2020, Josh Dowling.Josh is a 23 year old, 192cm…

Posted by Glen Waverley Football Netball Club on Wednesday, 4 March 2020

“We were also really under sized last year height wise, so we had to throw a few guys into the ruck and key positions that hadn’t played there before. Bradley was brought in to fill that role as well as the others to fill key spots,” Price said.

“All of these guys bring work rate. Collectively, they’ve barely missed a training session and they’ve brought a determination to prove themselves coming into the club straight away and hopefully bring us some success in 2020.”

 

 

 

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