By Ryan Long.
The Croydon North MLOC Football Club made big strides over the 2022 season, with the senior women making a Grand Final and the men having their best season since entering the Eastern Football Netball League.
The Senior Men’s side won four games last season, the most they’ve managed since joining the league. The Kanga Rams closed the gap on their rival competitors, even defeating Forest Hill once last year.
Ben Oakes has stepped up to take the role of the senior head coach, having experience with the club as an Assistant Coach.
“As an assistant coming into a senior role, you’re always trying to put your own little stamp on it but the transition for me coming in, already knowing the playing group, knowing what we needed, knowing where we lacked in terms of key position stocks and what players we had was definitely handy,” Oakes said.
“Sort of gives you a good two-month head start on someone coming fresh into the role would be.”
Oakes will have the task of keeping the club on the right track going forward with his initial plans based on keeping their current list together.
Last year, the club had a massive off-season where there was a heavy focus on recruiting with over 20 players heading to the club.
This year has been different in terms of numbers, but the club have still managed to bring in some high-quality players to add to its current list.
“The numbers are vastly different to the numbers that came in last year.”
Despite losing two very important key players Robert Hudson and Riley Punnett who headed out to the Outer East competition, the side has managed to bring in recruits to play in key positions to even things out.
“We’ve got guys like Tom Galway from Blackburn, Lachlan Volk from Norwood, Will Robinson and Lachy Poli from Bayswater,”
“They’re still going to add good depth for us and they’re going to be senior players for us,”
“Where we’ve lost Punnett and Hudson, we’ve also added guys in key positions to allow us to re-position guys as well.”
They’ll certainly help cover areas such as their ruck stocks, adding a bit of height to the list.
These recruits will play alongside some of their experienced talent in senior captain and star midfielder, Matt McKane and Jacob Crowe.
The likes of these guys have been a big help for Oakes coming into the role of senior coach.
“It’s an asset for me to have guys like Dan Butera, Matt McKane and Jacob Crowe running around for Croydon North, we can really bounce off them as a coaching group,”
“If the playing group buys into the way you want to play footy, it’s easier to teach.”
Oakes has labelled Jacob Crowe as one of the players set to have a big year at the club, after coming off an interrupted 2022 season.
“He (Crowe) didn’t play a whole lot of games last year but he has had a really good pre-season so we’re hoping to get a lot more out of him.”
There won’t be drastic changes in the way the Kanga Rams will play their football this year.
The major focus is on playing a more consistent brand of football for four full quarters each week.
“I’m not looking to change everything drastically, but we’ve worked on improving, having a set structure that we can achieve and do well,”
“Which will hopefully keep us competitive within games for four quarters.”
Last year, Division Four started to even up in season 2022 with the closing of the gap between the top three teams and the rest of the division.
Oakes is hopeful that the club can continue their current trend this year.
“Our group in terms of where we’re at should be competitive,”
“We want to win games of footy, and whether that be four games, five games, six games or plus, hopefully, that’s where we’re at,”
“Get to the end of the season with improvements there and we can build for that following one.”
The Senior Women’s side will be looking for another big season again in 2023 after making the Grand Final last year in Division Three.
Alongside East Burwood who went on to defeat the KangaRams in the Grand Final, the two were by far the best sides in the division, defeating the other Division Three teams quite comfortably.
Mark Hayhurst will be taking the reins this season, named as the senior coach of the women’s team.
As a former assistant to John Hayhurst, he knows the group well and was thrilled with what the club were able to achieve last year.
“It was a massive buzz, the men were really supportive, and we had a big crowd for all our finals,” Hayhurst said.
“The buzz around the joint was awesome.”
The side will be a little more inexperienced this season with a few key players out including two stars, with long-term injuries suffered in their finals series.
“Two of our top three of our best and fairest, Gabby Zappia, and Roxy Calleja both did knees in the preliminary final last year,”
“We’ll miss them this season which is a couple of big losses.”
The side has managed to recruit in an attempt to cover these losses.
“We’ve gained a ruckman, Holly, which really helps, Fahive had to ruck pretty much the whole year, she did an awesome job but now we can move her into a forward role, rotating through the midfield,”
“we’re lucky enough to have Brittany Grech who won the league best and fairest last year, she’s bringing a couple of friends with her that are pretty good players.”
Grech was fantastic last year, with VFLW experience, she won the Division Three league best and fairest.
Not only does it help to have running out on the field for the side but it has also been great for her teammates in helping develop their games.
“She’s one of those players where she’s a class above but she brings newer players into the game, she’s been awesome for the group.”
Yalleen Flahive is expected to have another big season in 2023 after coming off a full season in the ruck, named as the side’s most consistent player.
“She rucked majority of the year, she’s been awesome on track, looks like she’ll play key forward,”
Hayhurst has also mentioned Vice-Captain Venessa Nolan and Teri Mcintyre as two players set to have a big impact this year, in absence of a couple of their key players from last season.
“Teri Mcintyre who was new to footy last year, she hasn’t missed a night, she’s sort of the that running half-back, and her skills have really improved over the pre-season.”
“Venessa Nolan who was our vice-captain last year, we moved her back in the final series and really stood out, she’ll probably move there permanently this season.”
The club are still very well positioned in their division this year and will be one of the Division Two sides to keep an eye on in 2023.
“We’re definitely going to have a younger side but we still have plenty of top-end talent and class,”
“I always say to the girls that if you bring the effort, our class comes out.”
