By Josh Ward.
It’s set to be another big year down at Balwyn Park as Balwyn venture into a new era under another ex-AFL man.
There were plenty of highs and lows for the Tigers in 2022, challenging top sides but sometimes falling to sides beneath them to finish in fourth. Their season came to an end in the opening weekend of finals, falling to Doncaster East comfortably.
Former Adelaide coach and Geelong player Brenton Sanderson has taken over as head coach of Balwyn following the departure of Rodney Eade. Sanderson said on the Good Friday Match of the Round broadcast that it was an easy decision to come down and coach Balwyn.
“It’s a fantastic club, great culture, amazing committee behind the scenes, the footy department’s great and obviously what really appeals to me is the standard of the players too,” Sanderson said.
Sanderson was also drawn in by the love players had shown towards playing and training, adding that there’d been a strong buy-in from the group to date.
“(I don’t) have a lean towards being more defensive or more offensive, I’m drawn to players that love the game, they love training, they love being involved in a culture of success and winning.
“There won’t be too many tricks when you play Balwyn, we’ll try and do the fundamentals well, we’ve got a lot of talent, we’ve recruited really well. I think we’ll be hard to play against as long as their attitude and desire to succeed is there, which I’m sure it will be.”
There have been some big name departures for the Tigers whilst some have made their way onto VFL lists, including superstar forward Charlie Haley who will spend this season on Sydney’s VFL list.
Sanderson added that it was key for the side to be fluid whenever VFL players came back into or departed the senior side, including Haley.
“(Charlie)’s been really open about his ambitions to try and play at the top level and it’s a great reward (for him).
“He’s been a really important player for Balwyn for the last three or four years and he’s now our joint captain with Jeff (Gobbels). He’s still gonna play a lot of games for us so we’ll be quite fluid with his role for the Swans.”
However despite Haley potentially being in and out of the Balwyn lineup for majority of the season there’s still plenty of firepower up forward, including in the form of Josh Walker who kicked six in the Tigers opening win against Blackburn last Friday.
“(Josh’s) had a great AFL career and now he’s at the time of his career where he’s looking to step into community footy, be around his mates, hopefully he gets a little less pressure than what the AFL provides.
“We can play him in a variety of roles, we can play him forward, but we know that he can be an effective defender as well.”
They’ve also brought in ex-Collingwood and North Melbourne midfielder Levi Greenwood to the club, with Sanderson excited to have him on board for this coming season.
“He’s an incredible person Levi, fantastic AFL career. It’s been good to have him around the club with his leadership and hopefully we can get a few games into him this year.”
Amongst their other signings include Josh Wise from VAFA club Kew, Fraser Hicks from Congupna, Tristan Van Driel from Inverloch-Kongwak plus Aaron Britten from Greenwood’s 2022 club Deer Park.
“We (had) six or seven guys playing their first game for the club (last Friday). The committee were great in identifying some gaps in the squad and they just kept bringing in talent.
“Really grateful that we’ve been able to strengthen the squad it feels like over the summer.”
Rennie Gilchrist has also signed on as an assistant coach after spending the past few years away from Balwyn, with Sanderson excited to bring him on board this season.
“I’m very grateful to have someone with his experience. He’s the captain of the century for the club so anytime those sort of people walk into your footy club after being out of it for a while you’re obviously really grateful.
“He’s so calm, his footy knowledge, he knows the EFNL really well and obviously knows the club. He’s my right-hand man along with Paris (Harvie) and Hamish (McIntosh) so it’s good to have those boys involved.”
