19 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: Tash Gunawardana
NUNAWADING coach Paul Bevan believes his young group will be competitive for longer this season.
The club has finished last three seasons in a row and has not won a match since 2015, as the Lions look to improve in Division 4 after adding a number of notable players this off-season.
“We have picked up a couple of boys from Mount Waverley, so Caleb and Phil Schultz have come on-board (and) have been fantastic throughout the pre-season,” senior coach Paul Bevan said.
“We have picked up a couple of boys from Boort in the country (and) they’re brothers, Matt and Josh Smith.
“Then Matt Hume who’s 28 (and) he’s come to Melbourne from Queensland, he played for the University of Queensland last year.
“Cam Trainor we picked up from Seville, and he played more reserves footy, but he’s got senior football experience and because we are a young group I was trying to add some guys sort of 25 to 30 to get some maturity into the group because most of our list is under 25.
“I just feel we need to get that blend and have them blend really well.”
Nunawading has also added former AFL Sydney Pennant Hills defender Michael Van Rooy, along with forward Brad Rayner from Southern league club, Sandown.
The Lions have also lost senior players who have made a significant impression at the club, headlined by co-captain Luke Bogdan transferring to Belgrave and 2017 Division 4 premiership ruckman Zac Haig returning to Donvale.
“He (Luke) was a big loss in terms of his leadership,” Bevan said.
“Luke has been there since the start of the rebuild (and) he’s gone through a fair bit off field, so it has taken a bit of a toll not winning games and that type of thing (and) he just wanted a bit of a fresh start.
“Obviously Zac Haig was the big one we lost but that was potentially always on the cards since I recruited him last year.
“Zac is trying to get the best out of his footy while he is young, he will always come back he said to me, and when he’s winding down he will finish with Nuna.”
Ruckman Zac Haig has returned to Donvale. PHOTO: Hamish Blair
Meanwhile, Luke Davis, Alex Mitchell and Luke Mitchell have transferred to Fairpark, along with Zac Zaloumis who returns after two seasons at Nunawading.
The Lions are tracking well overall despite numbers being up and down at training.
“I think speaking to other clubs they are in the same boat where there’s anywhere between 15 and 30 who are on the track, so we’re getting those types of numbers but we haven’t got an under-19s,” Bevan said.
“So to get 20 to 25 on the track is quite good considering other clubs have 19s sort of props it up to that 30 average.
“At times we will have 30 to 35 and obviously it all depends on guys commitments to work and other off-field stuff.
“In general I have been pretty happy with a real focus on fitness as that’s one area where we need to lift.
“We have done a lot of work on that and the boys have really responded to that and we are reaping the benefits.”
Nunawading will have standalone captains this season, with Jordan Winter named senior skipper and Rob Jenkins to lead the reserves.
“We actually did our leadership group prior to Christmas and thought as a group it would be good to get that done early and we actually broke the boys up into groups over the Christmas break in terms of work groups so they were accountable for each other,” Bevan said.
“So that really worked well, as they all worked hard over Christmas without slacking off.
“Yes we have gone with a standalone captain that was voted by the boys, it didn’t come from me in terms of who went into the leadership group.
“We have just gone with the leadership group rather than have vice captains.
“Cooper Winter has stepped up, Tom Hogg who played a couple of games last year and stopped playing footy and Marty Lambe and Ciaran Spillman have come into our leadership group and that was all voted by the players.
“The players put together the numbers to form the leadership group and it had nothing to do with the coaching group – it was all player driven.”
Bevan believes he has the right players to improve on field in 2019.
“To be honest I think we are in a much better position but in transition we have really focused on just getting numbers to the club, our top sort of eight to nine blokes are good enough to play with other clubs in terms of senior footy,” Bevan said.
“It’s just trying to bridge that gap between our top guys and our bottom-end guys in terms of our 22 in the seniors, and over the last couple of years we have been able to do that.
“Even though we have lost Zac (Haig) and a couple of others, we have managed to bring blokes in to bridge that gap.
“I suppose we have made a real good go at bridging that gap and just having a few more mature players helps with that in terms of on-field leadership.
“Our goal is to win some games of footy this year.”
Last season, the Lions reduced their average losing margins by around 300 points, while kicking more goals and improving collective scoring by a similar margin.
“We have worked on our defensive side trying to reduce those margins in the game and we have also tried to be more proactive offensively, so goal kicking,” Bevan said.
“We have been doing a lot of work to improve and with the new rules coming in we’re around those new rules and done a lot of forward entry goal kicking stuff to make sure we are on top of that.
“So getting the percentage up and we went from 2.5% in my first year and 25% last year and again it’s building that percentage up.”
Bevan says there are a number players to watch in 2019.
“Cooper Winter had a good season last year and that (was) his first season of senior footy,” Bevan said.
One to watch: Cooper Winter. PHOTO: Nunawading FC Facebook page.
“He has been put into the leadership group now, so he has really grown into that role whilst he is only 20 years old (and) he really has developed himself into a future good leader.
“Phil Schultz will definitely be one to watch as a forward/ruckman (and) Brad Rayner will be another one, Jakey Virtue and Jordy Winter are the other two.”
The Lions are aiming to be competitive for longer and maintaining it.
“If we’re being competitive throughout the games (well) into the last quarter , we’re going to be in more games to win than lose over the season, so making sure we have that competitive edge over four quarters of footy rather than having it for five minutes in a quarter here and there,” Bevan said.
“As a whole I have been sitting down talking to the boys over the last couple of weeks one on one and the common theme is they are all are on the same path and they’re all travelling towards the same direction.
“Everyone has noticed the different feel at the club this year than the last couple of years and everyone is really buying in to what we are trying to do to win and break that drought.”
Nunawading hosts Kilsyth in Round 1 on Saturday, April 6.