By Ryan Long.
The Pioneers Senior Men’s group are set for a quick turnaround in Division Four, while the Senior Women set their sights on another step forward with a finals spot up for grabs.
A new era for the club started last year with the appointment of former Chandler Medallist Andrew Haining as the next Senior Men’s coach for the Pioneers.
Haining is set for his second year in charge. He took over as the playing senior coach, learning to adapt to the new role while still performing on the field.
“(It was a) Huge learning curve trying to learn while also to manage being a player, while coming into a new football club,” Haining said.
“Have to try and balance how to perform as a player while improving our players as a whole.”
The form of the elite veteran EFNL ruckman was still as strong as ever on the field, making last season’s Division Three Team of the Year.
An injury crisis and form slump in the second half of the year saw the Pioneers finish in eighth position on the Division Three ladder, relegated to Division Four.
“We’re disappointed the way the season ended as a whole, we did think we were competitive enough but at the end of the day, we didn’t win enough games,” Haining said.
“There were definitely positives, we beat Ferntree Gully, a grand Final team, lost by under a goal to Donvale who was a premiership side, and beat Silvan who was a finals side,”
“Unfortunately had too many injuries from the middle to the end of the season and we just struggled to put our best team on the park which really hurt us.”
Of all the sides in the division that missed the finals, Whitehorse was the highest-ranked attacking side, averaging 11 goals per game.
At the other end of the ground, they gave away more points than any other side, partly due to missing personnel.
They’ve managed to bring home a very handy key defender in Rob Macdougall, the 2022 Pioneers Best and Fairest winner which will certainly assist the group in that particular area.
“We’re really excited to bring Rob back, had a year off, a previous club best and fairest,” Haining said.
“We probably got done a couple of times by big forwards so to have an extra big body down there should strengthen our backline.”
Also joining the squad this year are George Laurie and Richie Johnston, both recruits from the Dom Violi Recruitment Agency.
“George Laurie, comes in as a half backer, he’s a young kid who’s really impressed throughout the pre-season so far, he’s also come along with Richie Johnston,”
“Richie’s a big-sized midfielder who can also play on the wing, play both forward and back, real strong utility, good size,”
“He’s only 21-22 and helps us with that core group of kids we want to bring through for our age group.
Alongside the youth, Whitehorse have also added a few more experienced players to the list including Warrandyte’s Luke Dunn, Park Orchards’s Caleb Parsons and Glen Waverley’s Daniel Eggington.
The list of recruits will certainly give the Pioneers a boost as they enter a whole new division. Haining is looking at the change of divisions with optimism, a great chance for the club to be highly competitive at this level.
“As a club, we have had dealings with these football clubs in years gone,”
“So we’re excited to be a part of the division and hopefully be as competitive as possible.”
There isn’t too much the side is looking to change heading into the 2024 season, with a lot of the game plans and processes set in 2023.
“Just learning for the group on our game plan and structures and wanting to play we want to play,” Haining said.
“Building on that, another twelve months of keeping the core together.”
Haining has been the utmost impressed with what he has seen with the building culture club over the last twelve months, one of the leading clubs in inclusivity across all areas.
“It’s a really strong environment, a real family-orientated environment, try to be as inclusive as possible,” Haining said.
“The strengths of our women’s program are really high, having one of the older women’s football teams going around,”
“There’s a real emphasis on creating an inclusive environment, it’s not all about the men’s program, but a place for everyone to be involved in.”
Whitehorse has proudly had one of the top senior women’s programs in the league and their team will be striving to go from strength to strength in 2024.
Paul Bevan takes over the senior women’s coaching role for the Pioneers, their second consecutive season in Premier Division.
Bevan brings plenty of experience, previously working under Park Orchards Senior Men’s Coach Dennis Armfield. He’s familiar with the club, having coached at the Whitehorse Colts Junior Football Club.
A key indicator of future success down at the club can be seen through their strong junior girls program.
“My daughter has been down there since she was ten, she’s now under 15s,” Bevan said.
“Her group of girls have played 50-60 games together now over that time, they’ve got a real good group, real strong group there,”
“That group of girls, there’s probably a dozen girls that will come through and player senior footy over the next few years which is really exciting.”
Last season, the senior group had a strong finish to the year, only just missing out on a spot in the finals due to percentage.
It was an impressive showing from the 2022 Division One Premiers, competing in the top level of the EFNL senior women’s competition.
Over the current off-season, it’s all been about getting the fundamentals down pat.
“Honing the fundamental skills, new game plan, new style of game for them,” Bevan said.
“Brought a few things from Park Orchards that we did under Dennis Armfield.”
Some of their key performers from the 2023 season have been hitting the track hard over the pre-season, leading the way.
“Mon Trusler – she’s been really good, she’s been giving me feedback and information on the girls.
“Ebony Wroe’s another one who’s been a standout on track.”
Bevan has been able to view a couple of Whitehorse’s 2023 games online and was very much impressed with the pressure they applied in the contest, particularly in one of their clashes against reigning premiers, the Eastern Devils.
“Their first quarter that day, their pressure was immense,”
“They were just relentless in applying pressure to the devils, if they hit the scoreboard, it would have paid dividends.”
After what they were able to achieve last season, there’s plenty of hope they can take the next step and qualify for a finals berth.
“The girls just missed out on finals last year, if we can take that next step, I think that’s a big stepping stone for them,” Bevan said.
The club is in a strong position going forward with Bevan planning to continue to build the relationship between the junior and senior girls.
“Developing some of the younger girls, even getting some of the youth girls in there training throughout the year,”
“Over the next two to three years, if we can really build that relationship between the Colts girls and the senior girls, it really makes the next couple of years really exciting for Whitehorse.”
