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INFOCUS 2021 – SCORESBY

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By Matt Fotia

Scoresby’s young core will be the driving force behind their Division Three campaign in 2021.

The Magpies find themselves in the EFNL fourth tier, following a disappointing 2019 season where they managed just three wins on their way to relegation.

But the club has bounced back from that setback, with consistently high numbers on the track throughout the entirety of this pre-season according to senior coach Kristian Bardsley.

“Basically, we’ve kept the same squad as we had before Christmas, and we’ve been averaging about 45-50 guys a night at training, so everyone looks like they’re on board and doing the right thing and getting themselves as prepared as they can for round one,”

“So, everything is going along as we think it should be, but it’s going to be a test this year and how well we’ve prepared, because it’s not been anything like a normal pre-season.”

The Magpies coach says he has seen the benefit of having a young group when it comes to their flexible training schedules – due to ever changing health restrictions – but expects the spattering of experienced players to come in handy once the real stuff begins.

“Nothing really fazes them (the younger guys), if you have to miss a couple of sessions, they’ll adapt whereas the older guys like to have more structure in how they do things,”

“But when we come across some adversity, I suggest the older guys will handle that a bit better during the games,”

“But the good thing about having the kids coming through, is that they tend to play with no real care, in terms of what’s happened before, there’s no scars,”

“We think we’ve got a really good balance of youth and experience.”

This blend of weariness and exuberance will be key to the Magpies competing in the division, with the ageing stars like Paul Chadwick able to win the ball at the coalface and the youth of tomorrow able to burn opponents on the outside.

“Our older players are our in and under players, who do all the hard work and get the footy and I see that as a bit of a bonus, because I think we’ll be able to match teams on the inside and outside,” said Bardsley.

“The way the kids want to play will benefit us in the way we attack, but structure in terms of putting your head over the footy will still be there.”

The silver lining from 2020’s non-season is the extended period this Magpies group has had to both bond together off the field, but also train together – without the pressures of weekly fixtures – and Bardsley is feeling more and more confident after each training session.

“The fact that they’ve been able to train together and you get to see what they are starting to do together at training and yes match day is completely different to training, but you know I’m fairly confident that the group will gel together,”

“We’ll have our ups and downs because we’re a pretty young group, but they’re willingly to learn, they’re willingly to listen, they’ll make mistakes, but in the long term having these kids come through (will be beneficial) in two to three years’ time when guys like Chadwick and Hicks retire, this group will be the next crop for the club that can build some consistency.”

And whilst it would be easy to view this year as a chance to bank some easy victories, Bardsley is aware that the Magpies are where they belong and is under no illusions about the strength of the division.

“From my point of view, there’s no easy game in footy, we’re in the division we are because of what’s happened in the past,”

“So, we just need to make sure we prepare ourselves as best we can.”

Scoresby start their 2021 season with a trip to Central Reserve to take on Glen Waverley on the 10th of April.

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