By Davis Harrigan
Season 2019 was a litmus test for Croydon North-MLOC as they entered the Eastern Football Netball League competition for their debut year. While the ultimate result saw them finish last on the ladder, the club remains undeterred and is starting to look ahead.
Now in their second year of competition, and with both of the 2019 Grand Finalists out of Division Four, there’s a renewed sense of hope that there will be a move up the ladder for the KangaRams.
Coach Mark Holly has reflected on what was a rollercoaster 2020, from the initial shutdown of the season, all the way to the tight Melbourne lockdowns, but is pleased just how well the players have responded since the opportunities to increase training and preparation have arisen.
Holly remarked he’s happy with where it’s at in the lead in to round one.
“I was worried at the start, as when we had the first lockdown, we thought it would only be a couple of weeks, everyone was really good and did stuff by themselves, but when we ended up in the big lockdown and we lost a lot of communication through the players,” Holly said.
“As soon as we came out of it and got the communication back up, I couldn’t be prouder of the boys. They’ve missed it that much and have come back even stronger and healthier, ready to go into this season.”
The emphasis was heavy, but enthusiastic, on the players having fun this year, not just after having missed out on season 2020 but to further embrace the enjoyment of being back out on the field.
New players have arrived essentially by word of mouth, allowing numbers to be bolstered, and Holly noted they’ve quickly engaged with what the club is all about.
“We resumed as soon as we were allowed to and were straight onto it. From two years ago, we’ve probably recruited 30 to 35 new players, and they’ve all come from mates without us going and spending money and understood our culture and what we’re trying to believe in,” Holly said.
“We’re still building foundations, but they’ve come knowing it’s going to be a bit of fun at the same time trying to win a couple of games of football.”
“We were a long way off the 8-ball first year, literally averaging four goals a game. We don’t know what other clubs are going to do, but we’re definitely going to improve because we’ve got the numbers on the track, we’ve got minimum 40 blokes on the track, the first year we were lucky to get 20 to 30.
“All of a sudden we’re getting a bit of structures, gameplay and fitness behind us, so as long as the other teams don’t go too far advanced on us, I’m really hoping we can bridge that gap,” Holly remarked.
Expectations aren’t being blown sky-high though, with Holly keeping them as firmly under wraps as possible, knowing there’s still a massive task for the KangaRams come round one.
However, there’s more resources at his disposal to create game-plans and tactics, rather than simply “wing it”.
“I’m not getting ahead of myself because we were so far behind the 8-ball, all I’m trying to do is put a basic structure in front of them, which they’re grasping, and that’s what we’re going for.
“We can get that structure and hopefully win games because we’ve got that structure (in place) instead of kick down the line and hope like hell like we did the first year.”
There’s a big bright spark in the young brigade at the club, a cornerstone of what’s to come and what Holly has implemented over the off-season; players in their mid-20s or younger – and they’ve immediately started to show their stripes.
“Darcy Price has come across from Park Orchards and North Ringwood, and he’s in that 25-26-year-old bracket, so he’s taken on the forward line. We have Sam Darge, he’s been all around and does a lot of community based stuff, so he’s been huge for us,” Holly said.
“We’ve also got Dylan Macisaac from Bayswater, he’s the backline coach, and I’m really impressed with him, because he’s got that voice and being a backman myself I can honestly tell him that you can’t talk enough, and he’s the general.
“For breakout players, we’ve got Zac Leacy from Bayswater, he’s come across and given us so much inside mid and run which is fantastic, and Daniel Clarke, he’s a young kid who played centre half-back against absolute monsters for his first season of football, and he took it with everything that was thrown at him.”
If season 2021 had a motto, it would be player growth.
“In our first year, we had three blokes over 30 and the rest were 22 and under, so we had no middle level that was doing that communication and teaching. They’ve all come back and now two years older, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how they adapt, now they don’t have to play those major roles,” Holly said.
“They can move from full back to back pocket, and it takes some stress off them. It’s going to be really good to see how they adapt and how much improvement they get from that first year.”
Women’s coach John Hayhurst is still wanting to find a way to have his players enjoy the season and enjoy their football, where it’s not just about the game and learning how to play it – it’s also about a new challenge and finding ways to make it fun.
“My agenda hasn’t changed; I’m still hoping to develop all the people’s skills and knowledge of the game. In the last three to four months, we’ve lost nine players, and in the last 10 months they’ve had time to think about what they do in their lives,” Hayhurst said.
“There’s been so much publicity, and the generation of females coming through from junior teams, the quality is getting better, but I’ve got 10 girls who have never played before, so they’re very much on the novice side. It isn’t ideal in a senior women’s team, but we’re working towards getting them skilled up and understanding the game.”
It might not be an instant success or an immediate change, but there’s already been a bit of improvement. The next step is to ingrain in the players that there’s going to be hits and bumps, and it’s all part and parcel of football.
“The idea I’ve got is about repetition; they need to hand pass 75 times and kick 80 times before they train,” Hayhurst said.
“We’re showing them how to hold the ball, how to get it to their instep and where the ball goes when they kick it, so it’s quite an involved process, but we’ve seen some of the girls start to be terrific in the skills. The other side of it, it’s a contact sport, and you can teach how to tackle and be bumped, but the reality is, you get tackled and bumped without knowing someone’s coming towards you, so that’s a whole different set of circumstances.
“Some may not like that when they’re confronted with it, so we have to be aware of that.”
That all comes down to honing everything in practice and allowing the players to become accustomed to the intricacies of the game.
With the season only just around the corner, preparations are a slow burn, but things continue to build long-term.
“My training is skill-based, but it’s also about what we do as far as enjoyment is concerned. We play touch football, which gets them to understand it is a contact sport, and we’ve recently started tackling technique,” Hayhurst said.
“We have to push things as there’s only a few weeks to go, but we’re pushing on the real physical stuff, and they all coped with that.”
At the end of the day, Hayhurst highlighted the satisfaction everyone gets when what’s been learned and understood comes to fruition – something he’s hoping to see on-field many times during the season.
“Enjoyment and happy in their skill execution, that in game time they’ve executing what we’ve been working on for 14 months, that gives them delight when they’re doing something really good.”
Croydon North MLOC start their season away to Kilsyth on the 17th of April. Their Women’s side will begin with a local derby against South Croydon.