By Josh Ward.
After a 2022 season that saw both senior men’s and women’s side play finals, Coldstream is in a strong position to replicate that form in the new year.
Returning to Third Division for the first time since 2012, the Cougars men’s side managed to make finals after finishing in fourth with nine wins. However their finals stint was brief, falling to runners-up Donvale by 50 points in the first week.
Chad Rogers will be at the helm for a fifth season as Coldstream coach, saying that 2022 was a great learning year for his side.
“It gave us a really good understanding of what we need to do. I think it really showed that our talent alone (was able to) get us where we got, we probably just weren’t fit enough, which was pretty obvious in the end,” Rogers said.
Nearly all of the playing list from last year has signed on, but this season will see the Cougars be without stalwarts Daniel Price and Jarrod Andreatta who have both retired.
The Cougars have also recruited heavily this offseason, with their reserves, who finished with only one win in 2022, set to be bolstered by their inclusions for this coming season.
“We’ve brought in 10-15 players, not all of them will play seniors but our depth will be much better.
“We played 85 players in our reserves last year, we didn’t have any depth and that really hurt us come finals time as well, we just couldn’t train as hard as we could and it had a big impact.
“It was a really good grounding for us, we’ve trained well during the preseason and we’ll definitely be a bit stronger.”
Amongst those inclusions include ex-Mooroolbark player Steve Watkins coming across after playing 10 games with the Mustangs in 2022 whilst ex-Ferntree Gully and Mustangs defender Josh Hammen joins following 45 games since 2019 with Yarra Junction.
“Leadership wise those two have been fantastic. They definitely make us stronger around stoppages and around defence, we knew we had to have a few more backline options.
“Luke London’s also come back after missing last year. We’ve really filled up and strengthened our defence, we’ve got more players around the wings as well.
“But we’ve been really happy with those two in terms of bringing in leadership, they’ve been fantastic at the club.”
They’ve also brought in plenty of youth, with Austin White and Sean Calcaterra joining from Lilydale whilst Gray brothers Josh and Bailey join from Woori Yallock.
“And that’s what we wanted to target, we didn’t want to just go and bring in older players, it was still a gap we were missing but we really also wanted to bring in some youth. They’ve added some excitement that’s probably been missing the last few years into the side.
“It’s definitely added to our training, it’s been exciting and (this year) it’s about bringing that and putting it together as a team.”
Despite the improvements the Cougars have made this preseason from a recruitment front, Rogers believes every other Division 3 side has also made improvements.
“We’ve definitely gotten better and stronger, but I know Warrandyte, Donvale, Ferntree Gully, Oakleigh District and Fairpark (have also) gotten stronger. I think our division might be fairly tight.”
Whilst it will be a tight and competitive division once again for the Cougars, Rogers believes the side can make it to another finals series this year.
“We’re really confident our depth is as good as everyone’s, but we have to be able to produce that week-to-week now. Injuries will play their part so if you can be injury free you’ll go pretty well.
“Ferntree Gully showed that last year, they got hammered (with injuries) early and then came home strong with everyone on the park. It’s gonna be interesting I feel.”
The Cougars women’s program will enter 2023 after last year making finals in 3rd Division in only their second-ever season. Winning their first ever final against Mitcham at Silvan, they would then be defeated by division runners-up Croydon North MLOC the following week.
Ben Gardner will lead the way for a second consecutive season, saying that the girls were excited to build on their strong 2022 campaign.
“It was quite a step-up from our previous season, first finals appearance and a nice little finals win over at Silvan in the wet,” Gardner said.
“They were very happy with the way the season went and they’re looking forward to seeing if we can improve on that this year and do it again.”
Gardner added that after making finals last year there’d been plenty of improvement amongst the side during the offseason.
“A lot of the girls have had good off-seasons and have really put a focus on improving their skills and developing in that area.
“We’re looking to move girls in different positions, try them out in different spots around the ground. I’m looking forward to seeing how they’ve improved (on that during) the offseason.”
The side has retained most of its playing list from last year, with only a few departing for this coming season.
“We’ve had a few that are travelling this year, a couple have moved away for work also. We have lost some players, but generally and overall most of them have stayed on for this year, which is really good.”
There’s also some new faces that have also signed on for the Cougars this coming season.
“We’ve got another girl from Yarra Glen come across but generally it’s new players, friends of players that are already playing with us.
“It happens with most clubs, girls bring their friends down and they try out footy for the first time, which is good.”
Abbey Broughan and Sophie Stark have also signed on having spent the past three seasons playing for Ferntree Gully, with Gardner excited about their two big additions
“It’s really filtered through the group, they’re really excited to have the girls playing with us. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do.”
Stark played 34 times for the Eagles whilst Broughan kicked 58 goals in 39 matches for them, with the latter to play a key role in a forward line whose leading goalkicker in Casey Bartlett only kicked nine goals
“We were targeting and trying to get a forward or two this year, she’ll work well with Casey down in the forward line. We’re looking to kick some goals this year and improve on last year’s performances.”
With no East Burwood and Croydon North MLOC this coming season, Gardner hopes his side can make consecutive finals appearances this time around.
“East Burwood and Croydon North were the benchmark of our division last year, they set the standard for the rest of the clubs.
“We’re looking forward to seeing how much we’ve improved and how we stack up the other teams in our division and also the new clubs that have come in as well. Looking forward to seeing how the season pans out.”