Coronavirus induced salary cap cuts have presented former eastern football powerhouse Mitcham with a guild edged opportunity to compete and stay in Division One according to EFNL journeyman and senior coach Neil Winterton.
The Tigers are returning to the EFNL’s second tier following a slightly unexpected premiership in 2019, where third placed Mitcham knocked off Heathmont – in extra time – Boronia and then Ringwood in an enthralling decider to take out the Division Two flag.
Despite a stall in their momentum due to the season long break, Winterton is more than content with the energy and effort being put in by his chargers this pre-season.
“Numbers on the track have been the best they’ve been in my time at the club and the vibe has been really good,”
“Importantly the boys have been putting in the hard yards and training really well,”
“(We’ve) changed some things around and it’s been a bit strange because we didn’t train at all last year, so we’ve had to marry up the focus between both fitness and skills,”
“You only get the guys for three hours a week, so it’s hard to do everything you need to do.”
Mitcham have stayed fairly quiet on the recruiting front despite the long time between drinks but have had the fortune of adding experienced lockdown defender Dylan Brookes to their ranks, with the left footer crossing from AFL Outer East club Yarra Junction.
“We identified that we needed to get some more help in the key back roles and have been trying to do that for a couple of years,”
“Last time we were up in Division One we were severely undersized.”
“Dylan is mates with a couple of blokes at the club and was training with us once a week and Yarra Junction once a week whilst he was making his mind up,”
“He lives in Ringwood which made the decision easier and he really enjoyed training with us,”
“He’ll boost not only our key defence stocks but also our on field leadership.”
Brookes arrival, whilst a very important one, won’t be enough to ensure the Tigers remain in Division One beyond 2021.
Winterton and his men will be after clean ball movement this year as they look to utilise their leg speed.
“We have to be a lot cleaner with our ball movement,”
“One of our major strengths, because we’re young, is our leg speed, so we want to move the ball really quickly but to do that you’ve got to be clean with the football, so that’s been a really big focus this pre-season.”
The Tigers are set to become beneficiaries of a ‘financial levelling out’ across all divisions, as the salary cap shrinkage brings clubs closer together and the ex-Mulgrave and Bayswater star is looking forward to it.
“I think the salary cap scenario has really levelled the playing field, now that it’s been trimmed, you’d suggest a lot of clubs will be closer in terms of expenditure,”
“It should even the playing field across all divisions as well and that’s what local footy should be about – it shouldn’t just be the same teams competing for the premiership(s) year after year,”
“It should be about the club’s that are run well.”
Mitcham host Wantirna South on the 10th of April to kickstart their 2021 campaign.