By Trent Callen.
After the Basin rounded out the top four in 2022, finishing on an even side of the ledger, they bowed out in the Elimination final at the hands of Boronia, with the Bears left to rue missed chances in front of the sticks.
Following EFNL royalty Jason Wade lobbing up on the doorstop of Batterham Reserve, after being appointed Senior head coach, the new year has welcomed in a change at the helm heading into 2023.
Fans of the red and green will be hoping for a deeper push into September with the added experience of Wade in the top job, who admitted to implementing a different brand of footy since taking over.
“Yeah it’s been pretty good, obviously with a new group, a very young group, we’re probably going to play a different style to what they we’re used to in the past, but it’s all sort of coming together,” Wade said.
The warmup fixtures in the lead-up to the season opener have invited Wade with a chance to fine tune his Summer of teaching, with an opportunity to see his list practice what he’s been preaching over the break.
“The things we’ve been trying to teach at training, were able to carried out, so there was confidence in the game plan, but the consistency factor holds the key – they’re still a bit up and down at the moment.
As a whole, the list make-up is full of inexperience, with Wade pointing out what a blessing in disguise it is to have a pool of talented youngsters, vying for a spot and a live opportunity to cement their position in the Senior side.
“It’s going to be very young side, there’s probably a good ninety percent that’ll be 22 and under, so there’s 4-5 players that played in the Under 19’s flag that’ll more than likely debut in the 1’s this upcoming week.”
“I think we’ve lost 20 senior people from the list last year, luckily they had two Under 19’s sides and a lot of juniors coming up, so it should interesting.”
Wade acknowledged the potential he spotted from afar – in weighing up his future plans in the EFNL – running a keen eye over the Bears squad and taking a liking to the green chutes bobbing up at Batterham Reserve.
“The body was very sore so I had an inkling my (playing) time was up – I’ve always wanted to take on a Senior coaching gig, so I had a look around and the Basin popped up and I knew they had a lot of good kids, so that was the club I wanted to go to.”
In terms of identifying a finishing spot, Wade confirmed suspicions that he hadn’t forecasted any end goal come the seasons climax, only asking they carry out the mantra in giving it their best shot each game.
“I haven’t really put any expectations on them, who knows where we could end up, as long as we follow the plan and give our full effort every week, the results will look after themselves at the end of the day.”
“It’s nothing like finals or bust, we just want to go out and do the best we can”
The belief factor is something that sits comfortably with the group, with Wade noting the talk outside their four walls is something that will fall on deaf ears, set to be achieved by a focus on ‘us’ only.
“Definitely, there’s always going to be outside noise when they look at all the players that have left us, but they never see what we’ve actually still got, so the belief amongst people still here is that we’ll go alright.”
When posed with the question of naming players that have jumped off the page in terms of their pre-season form, whilst listing a cohort of kids that have impressed, Wade was quick to sing the praises of one duo in particular.
“Quite a few of the young boys have really climbed onboard and had good pre-seasons, Christian Poe, Kobe Ferguson – there form in the practice matches have been really good.”
“I’ve spoken to them and there’s no reason why they can’t be really good Senior players this year, even though they’re young, so their probably the two standouts that have impressed me so far.”
The on-field leadership ranks have taken a hit, with Shane Davidson tipped to miss the majority of the first month or so with injury, leaving Wade to rely on a handful to stand up and fill his void in the meantime.
“Davidson was going to captain again, he unfortunately hurt his collarbone in the first praccy.”
“The original Basin boys around their early 20’s will have to step up, that being the Edwards brothers, Mitch Brown, guys like that and to their credit they’ve really taken it onboard so it’s good to see.”
The backbone of the management from an off-field perspective was seemingly unmatched, according to Wade who found the going tough in thinking of a setup that remotely resembled his surroundings.
“I don’t think you’d find a more experienced coaching staff setup, which is good to help guide the kids.”
A pair of ex-Vermont coaches have bolstered the Basin ranks, with Wade touching on their roles.”
“Toddy Powers is looking after the forwards, 300-game player.
Premiership player Matt Smith, is set to look after our back six.”
Wade also rounded out his list of colleagues, stating the footy and coaching background of Scott Chroslow will hold him in good stead, with “Scott set to look after the midfield.”
Lastly, Wade found time to share his excitement on the Dane Swan proposition, with the 29th of April marking the date for the former Brownlow Medalist to pull on a guernsey in front of a Bears home crowd.
“Everyone is super excited.”
“Obviously they had Barry Hall down a number of years ago, and that worked out pretty well, it’s good to get a bit of excitement around, so we’ve gone down the same track and got ‘Swanny’ to Batterham Reserve.”
Wade also jokingly mentioned the fact the announcement swayed some of his younger players judgement, who weren’t fully committed for the year ahead, with the news prompting them to go around again.
“He’s already helped cause a few of the boys that were sitting on the fence, have decided to play just because he’s come onboard for that game.”
Turning our attention to the Basin’s Senior womens side, run by Mark Eisenberg in charge as head coach, he takes the reigns after stints at Bayswater Football Club and a background in Personal Training.
Eisenberg comments on being greeted with a positive pre-season to welcome in his first year.
“Yeah fantastic, like really good, we’ve had super numbers, which has been excellent to see, and to be fair it’s something that’s been building for some time.”
The new Senior coach has thrown his gratitude behind the promising foundation that’s been built, prior to his arrival at Batterham Reserve, with Eisenberg passing on his thanks to the volunteers in the past.
“I have been fortunate, the stuff that’s been going on behind the scenes for a handful of years now, in terms of building a culture, we’re really reaping the benefits now.”
“So I have been able to come and tweak a few things and put a few process in place, working on strength and conditioning, and I think it’s held us in pretty good stead.”
The former PT, communicated his reason into stepping back into the fold, noting the COVID outbreak played a big part in his decision to return to football circles, in particular in a coaching capacity.
“Going through isolation and realising coaching was a big passion of mine, and just going through that you really re-evaluate what’s important to you, where you get value out of, and where you can give back.”
The dress rehearsals gave Eisenberg an opportunity to showcase the changes he’s made, in a competitive environment, away from the simulations and intra-clubs that don’t properly replicate match day.
“A lot of the things we implemented like the spread, shepherds straight after handballs, it was just really good to see that sort of stuff come into play.
“For me more or less, it’s about the bonding, that’s what I’m a big fan of is getting the culture right, the philosophy I teach is if theres belief, and there’s buy in, when it is your turn to go – absorb a tackle, chase someone down or even look for someone in a better position – you do it because you want to be apart of a team that is bigger than you.”
When prompted with a question surrounding an end of year goal, Eisnberg responded with a bullish tone, in the setting of lofty expectations attached to his first year sitting in the hot seat at the Basin.
“We had a supporters meeting the other day…I just spoke openly and candidly to them and said how this core group has been playing the game for 5 or so years together now, I’m not going to shy away from saying they’re hungry and want to win a premiership, so we’re going to aim for the sky, and with our numbers that’s a good possibility.”
With the Premier Division changes implemented this year, it throws a spanner in the works expectation wise, as Eisenberg pointed out it “changes the dynamic” as well since it’s introduction.
“But given they are girls who have played together before, they know structure, have played finals before and after bolstering the numbers with a few handy skilled girls coming down from, we’re going to shoot high.”