By Ryan Long
The future looks bright for the new-look Vermont side as they aim to pick up from where they left off in 2021.
Despite parting ways with some of their experienced talent, the Eagles didn’t miss a beat in Adam Parker’s first official season as the senior coach after the cancellation of the 2020 season. The club was awarded the Minor Premiership in the shortened season, winning eight games in a row after losing a tight Round One clash to rivals Balwyn.
The transition into coaching for Parker has worked well thus far, aided by his involvement with the senior group as a former player and the relationships that had already been built across the club.
“I’m lucky with the support I’ve got at such a great club, it’s hopefully been able to fast track my development,” Parker said.
“There are obviously things if I had my time again, I’d do differently and there are some things that I thought we did well as a group,
“I think it’s important as a young coach to reflect on every situation, whether it’s training, whether it’s discussions with players or in-game situations and how to coach them, just to keep learning and keep getting better.”
The Eagles missed out on the opportunity to take their consistent form into the finals, but the club did take the chance to give some of their upcoming young talent a taste of senior footy.
“We were lucky enough to play several debutants last year and have success with them,
“It would have been great to get more games into them and to fast track them as much as possible for this year and to give them some experience playing some finals footy.”
With the club going through a transition period over the last few years, Vermont have lost quite a few experienced club champions.
Former premiership player, Liam Wale Buxton, adds to that list after moving to Montmorency in the Northern Football Netball League.
However, the ex-VFL player leaving Vermont will open the door for other players to get an opportunity to step up into the role of number one ruck.
“Anthony Jenkins won our reserves best and fairest, he’s a ruckman,” Parker said of Wale-Buxton’s possible replacements.
“And we’ve got Mason Hawkins who’s training at Box Hill at the moment who’s aligned with us,
“We’re not sure how often we’ll have him but there’s two guys we think will get their opportunity and hopefully develop as much as possible as individuals and as players at senior level.”
Parker is confident that they’ll be able to structure a game style around the current group to keep the club in good shape.
“We’ve made some adjustments to the strengths of our current list and how we can utilise them as much as we possible in game situations.”
“We saw Noble Park last year; they didn’t have that prominent key forward and they adjusted the style of play they had and did a really good job.”
The feeling down at Vermont is a positive one for the boys who are excited for the challenges ahead.
“Overall, everyone’s just missed doing the things we love to do,
“Getting footy training back, practice matches coming up soon, some functions we were lucky enough to have last weekend, it’s been great,”
“We’re trying to look forward rather than look back.”
It’s also been a productive off-season for the Vermont’s women’s side who have had record numbers at training ahead of the 2022 season.
Season Coach Tim Da Silveira is excited with the possibility of a second senior team with the influx of players during the pre-season.
Not only does the club have several promising young players joining the senior list, but the Eagles have also recruited multiple big names from rival clubs.
“We’ve got a good batch of under 18’s coming through, we’ve also attracted some really good players,” Da Silveira said.
“We picked up the Blackburn premiership captain in Renee Johns,
“That’s a big coup for us, any club would be happy picking her up,
“We’ve picked up Jess McKenna who I rate highly and Ciara Reid from Blackburn as well,
“They’ll fit in well, they’ve been around and can certainly help our young girls develop.”
The added experience will fit in nicely with the top-end talent the side already has such as Holly Cullen, the 2021 Premier Division Best and Fairest winner.
The group had a solid year in 2021, finishing third on the ladder with a record of 6-5 when the season was suspended.
Despite making a lot of progress there are still areas of their game that Da Silveira has highlighted as key areas to work on in 2022.
“We got cut up a few times through the middle of the ground that cost us down back, we’re aware of that and will start working on it.”
“We’ve worked hard on fitness and up-skilling, and we will start teaching them a better structure and a better game plan than what we had last year.”
As one of the most successful clubs in the competition, Vermont has built a strong women’s program that begins at the junior level.
Da Silveira has highlighted the importance of everyone involved in the entire program that’s helped Vermont get to where they are today.
“There’s a lot of people that go into making it successful, I’m proud of them and proud of the players.”
“We tend to find good people; I think good clubs attract good people and we’ve been lucky to do that which is reflected in our program.”