By Connor Schmidtke
Going from a one-win per season side to a finals contender is no easy feat at any level of footy, but it’s one that Division Two side, Templestowe is striving for in season 2022.
The Dockers suffered a big drop off following the Covid break in 2020, slumping to just a single victory in the shortened season, finishing dead last on the ladder.
During that run they suffered a number of big losses, conceding an average of 100 points per game against to the opposition. The average losing margin from their 12 games was around 10 goals, and it led to Templestowe shaking things up during the off-season.
The Dockers scored a new coach, signed several big recruits, and set about improving their style to be more competitive in the new season and started the year off with a bang, trouncing new boys Oakleigh District in Round One, before losing five straight games and suffering a couple of key injuries.
Templestowe have managed to string together back-to-back wins – over Boronia and The Basin – these past two weeks for the first time since 2019 however, pushing themselves back into finals contention in the process.
One of Templestowe’s big off-season recruits was defender, Max Otten who crossed over from Premier Division side Blackburn after a number of years with the Panthers.
Otten said there were a number of reasons that sparked his move to the Dockers.
“I’ve got a young family, so time and effort were the priority and I just wanted to step back and enjoy footy a little bit more,
“I’ve known Nick Batsanis for about 10-15 years, (and) it’s something we’ve talked about the last couple of years, trying to play with each other and this felt like a great opportunity,
“The last two years obviously have been covid inflicted, things have changed in my life so just taking a step back and looking to enjoy my footy a lot more.”
After suffering five losses from their opening six games, Templestowe were in danger of falling into the same trap as their 2021 season.
But Otten says they were able to wrestle their season back with some simple tweaks to the game-plan.
“Those four losses we had, we felt that we were in the game, but the third quarters were the turning points against us.
“The last two weeks we just stripped it back to the basics, and both our third quarters have been really impressive.”
Knocking over two finals contenders has given Templestowe some added belief that they can match it with the best, as they head further forward into the 2022 season.
Heading into Round Nine this week, the Dockers sit just two-points outside the top-five and are well within striking distance of a finals berth.
Otten spoke about the improvements that his side have made, to give themselves any chance of jumping into the final five.
“We really wanted to play an attacking brand of football,
“We’ve had some great recruits come in but trying to get some games into those young guys and focusing on playing to a structure.
“Our on-field leaders of Michael Fogarty, Toby Ryan and Nick Batsanis have been instrumental through the middle,
“Those young guys have followed those three leaders and they’ve gone from strength to strength over the course of the year,
“We felt we weren’t too far off it against Ringwood and the Knox game was a little disappointing as well,
“But we’ve played two good games from our point of view (against Boronia and The Basin) and stuck to our structures well. We were able to execute the game-plan which was a pleasing thing for such a young team.”
This weekend presents another opportunity for Templestowe to further entrench themselves in the finals discussion, taking on Heathmont who share a lot of similarities with the Dockers.
Heathmont currently sit one spot behind Templestowe on the ladder, with just one percent separating the two sides.
Otten believes repeating the past two weeks efforts will go a long way to beating Heathmont.
“I think the last two weeks we’ve really controlled the footy, our forwards have performed well, and our tackle count has been right up. Everyone is playing with a lot of enthusiasm, so we just need to bring that again and make sure we kick the goals when opportunity presents itself.”
