4 DAYS TO GO | EFL Media will be previewing each club ahead of the 2019 season with the #InFocus2019 series, all thanks to Yarra Valley Water & Choose Tap.
By: Daniel Cencic
NORWOOD coach Marty Pask has overseen an intrinsic recruiting regime this off-season in the club’s bid for a return to finals.
Eight wins, nine losses and a draw for seventh position in 2018 prompted an identified need for depth ahead of the maiden season of the EFL’s newly-formed Premier Division competition, with the Norsemen last playing finals in 2015.
Star forward Leigh Williams topped the Division 1 goal-kicking last year with 72 majors. PHOTO: Sporting Images
Headlining the recruits at Mullum Reserve is Casey Demons-listed Darcy Fritsch, alongside Box-Hill-listed Jesse Cucinotta, while Box Hill premiership player Mitch O’Donnell joins the fold with Tristan Tweedie crossing over from East Ringwood.
Lachie Walker, formerly of De La Salle, will bolster the midfield while Lachie Kennedy has been slated for a role in the forward line after transferring from Ferntree Gully.
Meanwhile, the club has acquired former Noble Park defender Ryan Morrison, and Chris Tibb returns after playing the last two seasons with Monbulk.
Ruckman Connor O’Sullivan and midfielder Zak Carroll (Mitcham), along with David Johnson – who will serve as an assistant coach at Yarra Junction – are the notable departures.
“The main area that we wanted to identify was making sure that we bat deep in a number of positions (and) ensuring that there’s not a heavy reliance on any one individual but ensuring that we had guys that could come in and play roles in multiple positions,” Pask said.
“We’ve managed to do that through the midfield adding Lachie Walker and Mitch O’Donnell, we’ve addressed that down back with Tristan Tweedie who we feel can play down back and forward, and Ryan Morrison.
“Cucinotta gives us some leg-speed, Darcy Fritsch and Lachie Kennedy can play forward as well so it gives us a little bit of flexibility.
“We’ve done really well in terms of our retention of players that have committed to the club for not only this year but next year as well.
“It gives us a really good framework in terms of the club.
“We’ve seen a definite spike in terms of what they’ve brought not only football-wise, but culturally and with leadership as well.
“We firmly believe that the players that we’ve brought in are going to be Norwood players for a very long time given their age and football experience.”
Pask will also blood graduating under-19 products this season and says the club will seek to fully utilise its 47 player points as it looks to make up ground on Premier Division’s top echelon of teams.
“Looking at the points last year there were a lot of games where the club went in and competed in games with well under 40 points – we left quite a number of points on the table,” he said.
“We wanted to make sure that if we are to compete with these teams at the pointy end of the competition that we make sure we’ll give ourselves every chance both in terms of personnel and points – we feel that we’ve definitely addressed that in the off-season.
“With 47 points to play with, it’s not easy to get anyone from any competition and just plonk them in – there’s got to be a heavy reliance on your under-19 program and your development pathway and the connection with your junior club.
“We’ll have some graduates from our under-19s this year that will probably taste senior football at some stage – we’ve got some great young guys that have come through like Dylan Feltham who experienced senior footy last year.
“We’re blessed that the club’s got a great connection with the junior club.”
The second-year Norwood mentor has seen the benefits of a pre-season which has examined the group as a whole.
“Internally we’ve made sure we’ve sat down and we’ve looked at where we’re at, where we’ve been, particularly last year,” Pask said.
“The good thing about this group is I definitely see a real hunger and a competitiveness that’s there, that they want to do better and want to make sure that they’re giving themselves every opportunity to compete in every game.
“We’ve certainly had some great meetings as a club, some great training sessions and we’ve had a summer where we’ve put in a lot of framework and it hasn’t just been about running laps and kicking the footy.
“We’ve done a lot of work on us and our values, our culture and where we want to take this football club not only in 2019 but in 10 years’ time; it’s all about that legacy that this group for 2019 wants to forge ahead.”
Meanwhile, Norwood will again field a side in the Deakin University Eastern Region Women’s competition, after two wins and 13 losses in the top tier in 2018. The side will be coached by Stephen Fulton with Tania Winchester to lead as captain alongside Molly D’Arcy as vice captain, while Caitlin Duke and Gina Donovan round out the leadership group.
Norwood kicks off its season away to Vermont this Saturday while the women’s fixture is yet to be released.