By Davis Harrigan
Bolstered by form in last year’s disrupted campaign, Warrandyte coach Paul Donahoo is keen to make sure everyone at the Warrandyte Football Club is coming back ready to enjoy their football.
The Bloods finished top of Division Three by some margin in 2021, but Donahoo wants, first and foremost, for the motivation to come back, to go for further success.
“As a senior coach, you want to ensure everyone at your club, from number one on your list to number 94, or however many you’ve got, you want to make sure everyone’s happy, healthy, enjoying football, enjoying life and everything that comes with that,” Donahoo said.
“It’s been difficult, and last year we tasted some success,
“The seniors were minor premiers, we were in the four and had a realistic chance of three teams playing finals, and then to have the next two or three months play out like it did, it was really difficult to motivate people and keep them on board,”
“That’s transferred over to this year, and pre-Christmas, our numbers were down on what we would expect in pre-season, but people just wanted a break,
“So, we deliberately had a bit of a longer break over the Christmas period, and really stayed out of touch with a lot of them, and let them live their lives again,” Donahoo said.
“We’ve just kicked off again, and we’re under two months to the season, so we’re looking at ways we can do things differently,
‘We’ve got our training camp, something we haven’t done previously, just different ways to motivate people.”
While silverware is every club’s goal, Donahoo is not upselling anything just yet, even with the strong results from last year.
“I think it’s way too early to call and we’re under no illusions, yes we were given a minor premiership last year, but the fact is we didn’t play the team(s) to finish third or fourth on the ladder at all,
“We also don’t play footy to win minor premierships, as nice as it was,” Donahoo said.
“We wanted to test ourselves, and this year, the focus has been on how we can build on that and become a Division Two Club in 2023,
“The reality is we’ve probably had to strip that back a little bit, and we’re probably a little behind where I want to be.”
Warrandyte’s major players have been retained, but there is also a chance more may join closer to the season, though this is not set in stone.
“We’ve got a really strong core group that’s been together for a while, they click off the field quite well,
“But we’re still talking to a few others too, so there’s still potential and we’re very close to a few more joining us,” Donahoo said.
“I look to the likes of someone like Sean Jellie (from Hurstbridge in the Northern Football Netball League) and Luke Shelton (South Morang), these guys only played three games for us last year through injuries, work and a few other things have happened,
“Sean’s played in premierships for Hurstbridge, and Luke’s captained South Morang as well, so these guys are like new recruits to us,”
“What they do is they bring experience, and we’re getting them as full-time players this year as well and what they bring to our side is invaluable.”
Donahoo is confident that last year’s results can be replicated and is giving his side his full support and confidence.
“I’ll back my guys in any day, as you would,
“With the fact we walked away with a minor premiership last year, it sort of makes us the hunted this year,
“I think teams will come up a level and get themselves up that little bit more, so we’ve got to get on the front foot.
“We’ll attack each game with that extra five to 10 percent than what we did last year because it’s what we’re going to need to produce results again.”
In more exciting news for Warrandyte fans, the Bloods have put the steps in place to enter the Eastern Football Netball League Senior Women’s competition for the first time.
The Bloods are seeking any captivated players and have an open invite to join them at their training sessions, every Tuesday and Thursday at 6pm, at Warrandyte High School.
If you are interested contact coach Drew Corke on 0402 655 590.
