After a great season in Division Three that saw them play finals footy, Warrandyte will be out for blood this coming season
The Bloods managed to finish third across the home and away season, before losing to Waverley Blues in a truly enthralling elimination final after three bottom three finishes in a row between 2016 and 2018.
They also gained a new coach in Paul “Chopper” Donahoo, who decided to apply for the coaching role following his retirement after a decorated career.
“One of the deciding factors in me going for the job was that I know the club and I know the players.”
Donahoo’s relationship with the playing came in handy whilst lockdown was still in effect post his unveiling as senior coach for 2021 and beyond.
“The best thing with that is I didn’t have to build those relationships from scratch. I had the opportunity to go into a team that knew me, and I knew them.
“I had a lot of conversations with people, I reached out to pretty much everyone on our list over those lockdown months.”
Donahoo believes that while it’s their aim to make finals, it will be hard given the losses they’ve had since 2019.
“From that side that was beaten by Waverley Blues in 2019 we’ve lost a lot of experience and some really top end talent such as the Grimes boys, Lewis Oliver.”
Warrandyte did manage to keep most of the players they recruited in 2020 and have added a bit more youth to their squad.
“We’re really looking at our youth and what we’ve got,”
“We think we’ve got a really good bunch of kids coming through who played in the 2019 Under 19 Grand Final.”
They also gained plenty of stars recently too, including former Vermont and Upper Ferntree Gully forward Ryan Phillips.
“If you played senior footy [at Vermont] you can obviously play footy, they’re a wonderful club,”
“He also kicked 30 or 40 goals with Upper Gully last season.”
“He’s going to be a real focal point down forward; he’s got a lovely pair of hands and is a beautiful kick.”
They also signed former South Morang captain, three-time Best and Fairest, and two-time Northern Football Netball League Team of the Year member Luke Shelton.
“He’s going to add some grunt to the midfield.
With us dropping a bit of experience and some older, harder bodies, that’s where we’re looking at him.
“He’ll pinch hit in the midfield, working on the inside most of the time and trying to feed it out to our younger, lighter bodied midfielders.”
They also added some invaluable premier division experience in former North Ringwood players Josh Kennedy and Jakob Cullen-Hall.
“They were going to come across in 2020, so they stayed as well. Both play off half-back or on the wing, which is probably a position we were looking to strengthen.”
Warrandyte have also bought in players from Chirnside Park, East Burwood and gained players that are returning to the club, with Donahoo hoping that they can help their reserves.
“As a club we were looking for more depth as well,”
“I think overall we’ll have a stronger squad that’ll probably be a bit more even and if the twos are playing well it generally relates to a club going pretty well.”
Donahoo is adamant that former Doncaster youngster Chris Tout (who initially played for Warrandyte) and vice-captain Nikoda Brooking are two players to keep an eye on.
“He [Tout] will probably get a bit more midfield time now,”
“He played really well as a small forward pinch hitting in the midfield. We’re really looking for him to step up in midfield.”
“The league knows Nikoda,”
“He’s a pretty electric small forward, he’s only in his early 20’s and got a lot of upside in his game.
“You add him with another big target like Ryan Phillips down there to crumb it and he could really looking to him to cement himself as one of the best small forwards in the EFNL.”
The Bloods will start the season off with a bye in the first week but will then face Ferntree Gully in Round Two at Wally Tew Reserve.
