By Josh Ward.
It’s been a rollercoaster season for Warrandyte, but there’s plenty of belief at the club that the side has started to turn its fortunes around in recent weeks.
In another close contest, the Bloods were able to hang on for their fourth victory of the season against Ferntree Gully at home by two points. Senior coach Paul Donahoo said it was pleasing to see his side fighting to the final siren.
“The scenes when that siren went was great to see some reward. It wasn’t just us, there were supporters (that had) that feeling that we haven’t seen enough of this year,” Donahoo said.
Leading the way up forward was Ryan Phillips who kicked another bag of four goals, all of which came in the first half.
“They didn’t have an answer for him, he looked really dangerous with four in the first half. We were getting it in quick and he was nearly unstoppable.”
Saturday was another weekend where Warrandyte’s depth was tested but this time around the side had more belief that they could get the job done.
“Myself and the reserves coach have played the last couple of weeks in the reserves because we had around one (player) on the bench there.
“It’s tough, it’s testing every inch of everything you’ve got as a club. And that’s what I suppose makes wins on the weekend even more special.”
Whilst the depth has been tested Donahoo feels the side has started to turn a page since their loss to Oakleigh District a fortnight ago.
“The players got together on the Tuesday after that (Oakleigh District) game. And after that, you speak about buy-in, everything we’re about culturally the players have driven that the last couple of weeks and there’s been a turnaround.
“I’ve got to credit some of our leaders, especially Nikoda Brooking who again on the weekend on the field stood up, but off the field, the last couple of weeks has driven standards and expectations.”
Some of the familiar faces at Warrandyte such as Chris Tout, Josh Beasley & Quinn Clark have also stood up throughout this season alongside Brooking.
“Chris Tout and Josh Beasley week in, week out give everything they’ve got on the field. Beasley was quite ill on the weekend but he still did a job and he stands up in that way…
“Quinn Clark won a best and fairest for us last year playing forward and he’s been Centre Half Back the last month.
“He’s played some really good footy, he’s taken on a role and sort of said ‘I wanna be a leader of this club and drag us through some tougher times.’”
The big-name recruits have also started to find some form, particularly ex-Mitcham premiership players Zak Carroll and Kieran Malone.
“I don’t think Zak’s had under 40 in the last month, he had another 42 on the weekend. He’s been a pillar of strength in that midfield and his skill level, he’s come from some good footy and he takes care of it so he’s been huge in that role.
“And Kieran we’ve played in a number of different roles and when he flips the switch and says I’m on, he very rarely gets beaten one-on-one. Puts himself in positions that he probably shouldn’t for his size and does some really special things on the field.”
Donahoo has also given plenty of opportunities to 19s and 17s players coming through as well as reserves players from previous years.
“You look at the 43 that we’ve played and think ‘that’s tough’, and week in, week out it is. But for what it does in 2024 and 2025 helps us a lot.
“It also helps bridge that gap between the Under 17s, and the Under 19s coming through the system. They get to know us, they get to know what happens up there and playing with the senior boys that they might look up to always helps.
With the side turning a page in recent weeks, Donahoo added that there’s plenty of belief amongst the group that they can make a late push for finals.
“I know they can do it, it’s just a matter of whether we turn up as we did last Saturday or six weeks ago. That’s the challenge for our boys now is to put together two weeks in a row.”
The Bloods travel to Springfield Park this weekend to face Whitehorse, with a win pushing them 10 points clear of the bottom-placed Pioneers as well as potentially a game closer to Silvan in fourth (depending on results).
“Whitehorse at Whitehorse is different to Whitehorse at Warrandyte…We’ll prepare the guys as best we can and if we turn up like we did Saturday I’m confident we can beat anyone, I still have that belief every week.
“But it’s down to them and that’s what we’ll talk about throughout the week.”
