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By: Brett Beston
Twitter: @Brett_Beston
Excitement combined with a quiet optimism best describes the Park Orchards Sharks’ approach heading into the club’s maiden EFL Division 2 campaign.
Playing-coach Jarrod Bayliss, himself in just his second season with the club, is keeping a level head despite the historic 2017 campaign which saw the club take home three premierships.
“As a group, I think we’re more excited for the opportunity than anything,” Bayliss said.
“It’s hard to say where we’ll be at; our expectation is that we want to consolidate and really find our groove.
“Until you get into it (the season) you really don’t know what the step up is. We’ve got a young side and they are really excited and we’ll be giving it all we’ve got.”
Despite the end result last season, Bayliss says things were a bit rocky at the start.
“It probably took us about four weeks to get going and the turning point was probably against Scoresby where we came from behind and it really gave us a lot of self-belief and they (the players) started to understand the way that we wanted to play, and from there our game style evolved,” he said.
“We really took the game on and were dangerous in all areas. I think from then on the boys really started to understand the way we wanted to play.”
Bayliss believes the club’s recruiting in the off-season has been crucial.
“We went out and got ourselves a spine (and) a couple of bigger-bodied midfielders,” he said.
“That was our main downfall last year – a couple of bigger defenders and a good key centre half forward that could really get up the ground as well as being a backup ruckman.
“It’s just those bigger bodies around the contest and having that key spine if we are to be competitive in Division 2.”
The Sharks announced the signing of former Gold Coast and Carlton ruckman Daniel Gorringe (pictured) on Wednesday, in a player-mentor capacity helping out the side’s young talls, as well as potentially pulling on the boots himself at some stage.
PICTURE: Getty Images
Bayliss credits club president Jeremy Thomas as being largely influential in luring the big-man to Domeney Reserve.
“Jeremy actually taught him in South Australia, so the connection was there,” Bayliss said.
A host of other new recruits have impressed the playing-coach this pre-season.
“Joel Bleize is a Vermont boy and he’s been working really hard. He was at Warrandyte last year and didn’t play a heap of footy, but he’s been a bit of a surprise packet coming to the club for the right reasons,” Bayliss said.
“It wasn’t about money he just wanted to play with his mates and he’s been setting the standard on the training track.
“We’ve got my brother Jack back and he’s been training full tilt since Xmas.
“Tommy Johnson a midfielder, who’s been runner up in several best and fairest awards in the last few years, he’s been away at university and travelling and was one of the best players the year before.
“Shaun McMillan (Montrose) is a six-foot-four 19-year-old that can play forward, back, or in the ruck. He’s a big strong boy who played rugby last year, and loves the physical side of footy.
“Andy Knee, who’s played at Montrose, is running a sole leadership program at the club, and is a monster.”
The Sharks have also added former Croydon spearhead Brendan Weinert and Balwyn premiership player Jarrad Wright.
“Brendan Weinert is exciting and to be honest he’s probably the fittest bloke at the club and he’s had a huge impact leadership wise having come across from Croydon,” Bayliss said.
“Some of the things he’s shared about our training and how impressed he’s been with the boys have been really exciting for us coming into Division 2.
“He’ll pinch hit but predominately he’ll play forward to really stretch opposition teams because he’s really agile.
“He can play small or tall and he’ll give us another avenue to goal, as well as strengthening our midfield depth.”
“Jarrad Wright is another; he’s going to be a really solid key defender for us as well as signing on as a senior assistant playing coach with a lot of knowledge coming from Balwyn, helping us with things like our short kicking, control of the footy and helping maintain possession and taking that side of our game to another level.
“We know we can run, we know we can use the footy, we know we can kick long, but its bringing another element into our game, being able to maintain possession and forcing teams to defend up instead of letting them drop numbers back.
“It’s about adding another dynamic and hopefully the hard work pays off.”
Of the existing stock, Bayliss says Michael Fowkes is fitter than he’s been in about five years.
“We are really looking forward to him having a huge impact this year,” Bayliss said.
“He’s moving well, he’s dropped about six or seven kilos and we really haven’t seen the best of him, I guarantee you.
“I think we will really stretch teams up forward this year with our strength and our avenues to goal.”
With no significant departures and plenty of enthusiasm at training, the coach is understandably delighted with his young troops’ progress.
“We started in the last week of January and we’ve been training two nights a week doing two hour sessions which gives the boys a chance to recover and have the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off,” he said.
“The numbers have been amazing; we’ve had an average of about 50 players, a couple of times there we had 75 blokes on the track and it was just too much so we had to split them up.
“We’ve got three practice games coming up – we play a team from Geelong as well Norwood and Scoresby. We’ve been doing a lot of match simulation.
“Jarrad Wright has been amazed by how hard the boys have been going at the ball especially the kids. It’s the way they’ve been brought up, you train the way you play and hopefully that stands us in good stead.”
How they adapt to the step up to Division 2 remains to be seen, but with a great attitude and talent to burn, 2018 might just be The Year of the Shark.
Park Orchards will host Wantirna South at Domeney Reserve in Round 1, on Saturday, April 7.
