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By: Daniel Cencic
AHEAD of his maiden season at the helm, Heathmont senior coach Kyle Emley is setting the bar high.
After a grand final appearance in 2017, the club managed to snare a thrilling one-point extra-time win over The Basin in the Division 3 elimination final last year before being bundled out by eventual-premier Boronia.
Amid the excitement and expectation that surrounds three consecutive senior finals appearances, Emley has enjoyed the challenge of senior coaching after being appointed in October.
“I’m sort of taking an educational path with the way that I’m approaching the coaching and trying to educate the group,” Emley said.
“We’ve got a lot of talented young kids that probably haven’t been exposed to some of the concepts before and so I’ve just been enjoying seeing their development.”
2018 Division 3 & 4 Leader Young Gun winner Fin Brown flies for a mark. PICTURE: Davis Harrigan Photography
The Jets have retained the majority of their playing list heading into the 2019 campaign, including household names Tom Rourke, Brent English, Kevin Clark, Gary Conyers, Jake Sherriff and Bailey Stevens along with a host of others all re-signing.
“That was really promising and there was always a bit of the unknown with a new coach coming in and how that would be received, but a lot of those guys I’ve played against or played with at different times and then you’re tasked with building that trust and respect with them,” Emley said.
“I’ve been really impressed with a lot of the leaders and a lot of the older guys as well from a buy-in perspective.
“It’s probably a bit of a shift from what they’ve done before from the old-school pre-season, and whether that’ll be beneficial, we’ll wait and see.
“From purely getting back to enjoying footy, I think a lot of those guys who’ve done a lot of pre-seasons and know how to get their body right, will be able to really enjoy it.”
The Jets were cruelled by injury last season with a number of key names sidelined.
Emley has tasked his players with understanding their bodies during the pre-season.
“A lot of the stuff we’re doing is around match-simulation and small-sided competition games,” he said.
“We’re really trying to put the bodies through as similar (to match-day) as possible.”
Headlining the Jets’ recruits this off-season is Rohan Nolan, formerly of Boort in the North Central Football League.
Emley believes Nolan’s inclusion will off-set the departure of experienced forward and club-great Leigh Odermatt, who has returned to South Belgrave.
“(Rohan’s) team finished bottom last year and he kicked 47 goals, so that was a positive for him,” Emley said.
“One of the more notable exits was ‘Oders’ (Leigh Odermatt), but that provides a great opportunity for some good young kids we’ve got and adding Rohan is a bit of experience to that forward line and hopefully straightens us up a bit.”
20-year-old Ayhan Bajramov has also joined the Jets, crossing over from Montrose.
Bajramov represented the EFL’s under-19s representative side in the 2017 WorkSafe AFL Victoria Community Championships in the 28-point victory over the Essendon District league.
“He’s going to be a real asset for us, he’s played Division 1 footy and probably talent-wise, could have played more Division 1 footy,” Emley said.
“He’s a guy that just wants to enjoy playing footy and probably have a bit more freedom in terms of the roles he can play.
“He’s definitely a powerful young man so he’ll be one if we can harness that love for the game make him enjoy being there, you start to get the most out of people from that perspective.”
Chris Colombo has also departed the club after four seasons, landing at Doncaster in Premier Division. Colombo played 18 games for the Jets in 2018.
Heathmont is also expected to announce “three or four” new recruits shortly.
Meanwhile, swingman Ben Abbruzzese’s position – back or forward – this season looks set to hinge on the impending recruits.
Abbruzzese’s versatility proved crucial to the Jets’ spine in 2018, with notable performances up both ends of the ground including a bag of six majors against the Waverley Blues in Round 4, and holding Ringwood spearhead and Division 3 competition best and fairest Trent Farmer to just one goal in Round 13.
Abbruzzese’s versatility proved crucial to the Jets last season. PHOTO: Davis Harrigan Photography
“Benny’s great like that, he’s very versatile and he’s willing to do whatever and I think that comes back to the few people we’re talking to from a recruiting standpoint,” Emley said.
“We put a lot of work into getting everyone on-board from last season and putting a lot of energy into our list that we had already and keeping that group together.
“I don’t think the group was far off; they lost seven games but all of those seven were under three goals and five were under 10 points, such is the nature of that division.
“I think if you can add a bit of quality to that, maintain your depth and see some improvement through the young guys then you’ll improve but Ben will continue to have that versatility.”
And, after breaking his leg 18 months ago, Emley looks set to return to the field, made easier by the inclusion of Andrew Smith as assistant coach, who played in six premierships with Vermont and more recently, served as assistant to Steve Buckle in Doncaster East’s 2018 premiership-winning season.
“The rehab has been an arduous task, but for myself, it’s about the coaching and then being able to contribute on the field as well,” Emley said.
“Having (Andrew) come on-board from an off-field perspective will really allow me to be able to coach out on the field and focus on the development of the young guys and help with the leadership.
“Where that is, I’m not sure but as long as it’s somewhere that I can contribute to helping other people play better.”
Expectations are high internally at the Hangar.
“We’ve had discussions about what our expectations as a group and a club are – it’s a big year for the club with the new facility being built, and how that changes our prep and new lights going in,” Emley said.
“My own personal expectation is to give ourselves a chance to play finals footy, and just see where we’re at. It’s pretty cliché and a lot of people will say that.
“I’ve said to our group that our expectation should be high and we’re definitely still in that window to be challenging for success.”
Deakin University Eastern Region Women’s
Meanwhile, Heathmont will again field a senior women’s side, led by coach Joel Saunders.
The Jets finished ninth on the Division 1 ladder in 2018, recording three wins and 12 losses.
Club president Rob Parker has overseen the pre-season.
“They started before Christmas and they were pretty keen on their training and they’re back into it now two days a week,” Parker said.
“We’ve just got to keep on improving and spending more time on skill-work and that’s the crunch of it when you get so many girls who haven’t played footy before.
“Joel and his assistants are spending a heap of time on that basic skill area and I think that’s their focus. We all want to win games of footy but I think for our side it’s more to develop.”
The development program at H.E Parker Reserve looks set for a boost with an under-18s pathway in the pipeline.
“We’ll hopefully get an under-18s side up this year in the girls’ comp and we might have some players coming through next year that have been playing footy a little bit longer. That’s our long-term aim for the side,” Parker said.
“If our junior program continues on strong then hopefully it’ll bring a flow through of girls that have some experience of playing football and if we can get to that stage, our women’s side will get stronger as that progresses.”
Heathmont begins its 2019 campaign on Saturday, April 6, when the senior men host The Basin at H.E Parker Reserve, while the senior women’s fixture is yet to be released.
