By Davis Harrigan
It was in late 2021 that Montrose took a giant recruiting step and secured the services of football great Gary Ayres to coach the club for season 2022, offering a glimmer on the horizon of something more, following a mid-table finish in 2021.
Having been active as coach during the disrupted season with VFL side Port Melbourne, Ayres first-hand saw the struggles and triumphs produced by such a stop-start fixture, and has already committed to taking the club forward, with players embracing what’s on the table and the chance to step it up a notch.
He highlighted the strong desire from the players to get back into footy and preparation, with plenty more still to come.
“We were one of the earlier clubs that started in relation to our pre-season training.
“The boys were very keen, and we had some really good numbers on the track,” Ayres said.
“We were even training three times a week prior to Christmas, and they embraced that.
“As a new coach, you can wipe the slate clean so to speak, and previously, with a lot of things outside people’s control, numbers on the training track were somewhat limited.
“I get that too firsthand, as there hasn’t been a proper football season now for a good couple of years.”
Montrose’s centenary couldn’t have been a bigger time to step into the coaching the club, but Ayres already feels at home and knows what it means to be part of such a milestone.
“I feel like I have been embraced by different organisations within the football club, and that’s really, really pleasing.
“From a history point of view, it’s extremely important to always understand what the history of the organisation is all about,” Ayres said.
“You have to understand what’s gone before you, and then let’s go about writing our own history.
“Clearly we’ve all got to play our part.”
While it may be about “tempering expectations” on occasion, Ayres’ mindset is encapsulated around the team game and improving from within. Form is temporary, and Ayres wants Montrose to be able to develop chemistry in how they work as a team, and with him.
“First and foremost, the guys want to improve, and where that then gets you, that’s the exciting part.
“It can be really quick improvement, it can be up at times, it can be low, so we’ve got to develop a consistent method and approach to what we do,” Ayres said.
“It’s also about the winning side of it, that improves your culture, improves your confidence, and improves your chemistry.
“That improves your camaraderie and really tight circle you’ve got to have as a club, and we are one club, that’s our theme.”
The Montrose player list is vast, and all have been putting in 100 percent ever since the pre-season began.
Ayres, as a new face, has enjoyed walking in the door without knowing too much – allowing development to tell the story, and work with everyone along the way.
“I didn’t know really anybody when I walked in the front door, so to speak, and I think that’s a good thing,” Ayres said.
“I’ve been guided by my assistant coaches, some of them have been there for a few years and have a bit of understanding of the personnel.
“Guys I’ve been impressed with from a young group, as far as just little things (go) like attendance to training and wanting to be better, Ethan Cochrane has only missed one session, Corey Waite is another young guy who’s certainly been really professional in trying to get himself fit.”
“Ben Dessent has been a really strong player for the football club, Mitch Davis, Bailey White, Beau Tennant, some younger guys that are round the 21-year age bracket, and Riley Hams is looking like this could be a steppingstone into a really solid season,” Ayres said.
Because of the depth available, Ayres faces the tough task of picking the most ideal 22 to take the field each week.
He looks at this process as being one of evolution, and the approach taken one that ensures everyone is working at maximum potential, while also assessing everyone that’s put in that commitment asked of them.
“It’s my role to potentially look at each individual as being the most valuable asset they can be for the club, and we’ll be looking at improvements on a scale that we think is relevant to the football team,” Ayres remarked.
“We want everyone to make sure they want to come to the football club because they genuinely want to, rather than because they have to.
“Once you make that commitment, it’s about making sure you’re going to make our organisation better, both on and off the field.”
Women
Montrose women’s coach Shilette Baker is excited about the positive environment that’s been created, and the progress in skill and development, that has come with a boost in team bonding.
“We’ve been able to retain between 70 and 80 percent of the players from last year, which was a really positive step forward, and we’ve actually picked up quite a number of other players,” Baker said.
“That takes a lot of pressure and stress off the players that had committed last year. We’re still very much a developing side because this is the second year for the Women’s team.
“We’re just excited to be able to go out there and see if we can get through the season unscathed.”
The foundation has been built on just going back to basics – ensuring the team are working hard on becoming cohesive.
“We focus a lot on skills and trying to get everyone to work together, and see each other’s strengths and weaknesses,” Baker said.
“We’re really trying to get that team bonding and team trust, and we like to coach in a way that we focus on everyone.
“That gives everyone the ability to go, ‘okay, we’re all in this together’.
“I think it builds a really good environment, and everyone’s really excited for this year.”
There’s a definite air of positivity and ambition, amongst all players and coaching staff, and particularly with the younger players taking huge strides and making their way through to the senior side.
With enough numbers to comfortably cover depth, Baker is looking forward to seeing a few more take the next step.
“One of the juniors who did quite well last year was Ellie Carol, she’s one of our rucks and could have been playing U/18s last year, and we’ve watched her really develop into that craft of rucking, so she’s one to watch,” Baker said.
“One of the silent sorts of players is Shae Eslick, she’s quite skillful.
“We also retained one of the women that came in halfway through the season, Rachel Hardy, another very skillful ruck that can pretty much play forward or anywhere in the midfield, so we’ve got some exciting players.”
Highlighted in discussion was how important it was to be able to keep a hold of the football in pressure situations, and to be able to execute and hone the essential skills.
“I think the biggest thing with women’s football is possession, and it’s very much skills based.
“You get the skills up from an early point of being able to kick, mark and retain that possession, rather than contest football all the time,” Baker said.
“That’s where we’ve been focusing with the skills, and once we get the basics, they all want to go in and do competitive stuff.
“If you can easily do skills without any pressure, once we start applying the pressure, we still want to be able to do that.
“Retention of possession is one of the biggest things that can win a game of football in the women’s competition.”
Looking ahead with round one close approaching, Baker is keen to take the next step, and really wanted the team to start becoming cohesive.
When they did last season, the results started to show – something that should flow onto into this year.
“I think they were really starting to hit their straps near the end of the season. Now we’ve retained most of them and then got quite a few other players that have played football before, I think we’ll be really pushing up the top end of division two,” Baker said.
“We’re really going to give it a good crack this year, and we can only do that when everyone starts working together and that’s what we’re pushing for, not just relying on one or two players.”
