By Matt Fotia
Both of Knox’s Senior outfits will take major learnings – and confidence – from their 2021 campaigns, as the Falcons look to sink their claws into the next edition of Eastern Football Netball League action.
Despite a late decision to field a Senior Women’s side, Knox performed well in 2021, surging home to sit third on the Division Two ladder at the compulsory closure of last year’s football season.
The Falcons won five games, coming a long way from their early season forfeits, and were primed to finally topple their closest rivals Kilsyth, a side they’d failed to get the wood over across the year, if they did meet in a knockout final according to coach Peter Jordan.
“We started the year very slowly due to some sketchy numbers, but as the season went on, we improved each week and won four of the last five,” Jordan said ahead of the 2022 season.
“I was looking forward to the finals and playing Kilsyth who we had been getting closer to each time we came up against them.”
Jordan is confident this year will see a more consistent Knox outfit, with the side able to get some proper preparation in this year, rather than being left scrambling to get enough numbers to field a side throughout the 2021 pre-season.
The experienced junior coach is particularly excited about the new crop of Under 18’s taking the next step into senior football.
“We had a really good Under 18’s side and we were confident that they would transition well into our senior side, and we picked up some players late in the season out of the blue,
“I’m confident our Women’s program will get better quickly thanks to all of those Under 18 girls coming through, who have played footy their whole lives.”
“Last year we had a basic game plan and this pre-season we’re looking to add to that now and set some new training standards for the team,
“But I’ve always seen football broken down into three key areas; skills, fitness and the mental side of it, so we’ll keep trying to develop all of those as we go.”
Jordan’s simplistic approach to coaching carries into his hopes for 2022.
Despite heading into the final stretch of the unfinished 2021 season as the form side, the Falcons mentor remains measured on his sides chances this year.
“With our side fun is the most important thing,
“Plus, you want to be competitive in every game you play,
“But people like to win and at this stage we’re pretty confident we’ll have a good year.”
2021 was a bit of surprising one when it comes to Knox’s men’s side.
After being relegated by the barest of margins from Division One in 2019, many expected the Falcons to be one of the sides to beat in a strong Division Two come 2021.
But Brendan Whitecross’ group were a fair way off the pace, a good six to seven goal side worse than the top five, struggling to find the scoreboard across the season, booting less than 50 points per game on average.
Mitchell Greaves was one of the standouts in a middling season for Knox and whilst he admits he was surprised at how far off the pace they were, he says the non-starter that was the 2020 season saw several players reassess their desire for the game.
“Last year was a bit of surprise,
“Any time you drop down a division you definitely expect to be competitive, but with the pandemic it made a lot of guys question whether they wanted to play footy and so our list turnover was a lot higher than usual.”
Things are looking more positive ahead of 2022 however, with Rowville trio Jackson McDonald, Jackson Anderson and Jarryd Hall all joining the club, adding to a growing group, which Greaves believes is about to hit its straps.
“The three guys who come across from Rowville have been great, they’ve hit the ground running and integrated quite nicely,
“It’s always interesting when players drop down from a higher level, what their attitude is going to be, but I can’t fault the way they’ve attacked this pre-season and the way they’ve fitted into the club,
“In terms of the rest of our list, a lot of younger guys – you’re 22,23-year-olds – have come back this year and have been in the gym or they’ve been running a bit more, they’ve had their switch flicked in terms of what it takes to play senior football now, so we should have six to seven players who should step up this year.”
Greaves also expects a drastic improvement from the group now that they have their head around what their coach expects from them, and now that he has his head around what tools he has at his disposal.
“It took until about halfway through the season for Brendan to get a good grasp on the group that he had, as it would any coach,
“So, there was a bit of trial error to find out not only who’s in your best 22, but who the players that can be earmarked for the future are,
“Now he’s had that year, he’s got a better of idea of who he wants in his side, who’s going to be thereabouts in the next few years and can now stamp his brand on the club and the group.”
With some key signings, an understanding on what their up against, and some more miles in the legs, Greaves believes that Knox are ready to close the gap on the Division Two front runners.
“We’ve improved as a group and by doing that and focusing on how we’re playing footy, I think we can close the gap and push for finals.”