Yarra Valley Water InFocus 2025 | Warrandyte

By Jared Beanland.

Coming off a relatively successful start to the decade, seasons 2023 and ’24 were not the ideal follow-up for Warrandyte.

Winning only six games over those two years, the Bloods have now been relegated to Division Four, and have had to reshape the look of the club to find future success.

Senior men’s coach Paul Donahoo explains the difficulties of last year.

“We knew last year would be a struggle. We got the win against Ferntree Gully and played really well, then we went out and beat Silvan. But as things happened, we had a few people overseas for the back half of the year, and you get your injuries, and everything that comes with it," Donahoo said.

"We just couldn’t sustain it. We thought our best was good enough to stay in Division Three, but we couldn’t sustain that for multiple reasons. So we take where we’re at, and accept that, and hopefully we produce a style of footy that’s going to be more than competitive for Division Four, is what we’re hoping.”

Looking forward to new challenges in Division Four, Donahoo seeks to back the changes that have occurred across the club, and has enjoyed seeing a renewed level of participation in the club across the offseason.

“We don’t want to be in Division Four, nobody wants to be relegated, and go through the pain you do in a season that comes with relegation. But the feeling around the club now is really good. This is off the back of some changes 12 to 18 months ago in both personnel and culture,"

"We knew last year we’d be up against it and our best footy was needed to stay in the division. Unfortunately that wasn’t to be, but we’ve reset, we’ve got some big numbers around the place that we haven’t seen for a while. Everyone’s excited to get back into it, it’s been a long summer and on Saturday we get to see where we’re at in this division.”

Setting realistic expectations about the outcome of the season freed up Warrandyte’s ability to focus on the enjoyment of footy.

Donahoo’s approach of getting games into younger players, and putting less emphasis on winning has translated into a greater level of engagement within the club, drawing a larger number of younger players to the Blood Bank. The future of the club has been the focus of the offseason.

“Obviously you want to win games of footy, but we had a focus last year of actually enjoying ourselves as well. It’s strange when the seniors win two games, both of those in the front half of the year last year, but we actually reasonably enjoyed the year,"

"Winning is going to be more enjoyable, so that was the next part. But we had to look at the future of the club, so we put a lot of time and games into the younger kids and what that looks like. Our under 19s numbers this year are stronger than I’ve seen since I’ve been at the club, which is awesome – we’re not scrapping for those last six players to field a side this week in the 19s."

"So to turn around and enjoy ourselves, but also look at the future of what we wanted, instead of potentially bringing in a few people that were bigger names in that way, we’ve asked ‘how do we set this up for the next three to five years instead of the next twelve months.”

The onfield struggles Warrandyte has faced in the past couple of years has led to a need for introspection, and Donahoo was prepared to question his own role at the club.

To remain competitive throughout the coming years the Bloods must keep up with what Donahoo calls “the changing face of footy”, and the leadership at Warrandyte is prepared to do that with the work that has been done behind the scenes.

“It’s not widely known but at the end of last year our coaching group and our leaders, we had a really good honest sit-down about where everyone was at. I questioned myself about whether I go on, and what that looks like, and whether my ideas, plans, and thoughts of Warrandyte were the best thing. I think you need to do that, because we’ve got so many different faces this year, and a different division, so was a new voice needed or not,"

"So I’ve had to take a really good look, deepen some relationships with certain leaders, and really work on them, and the club, and in turn myself. We’ve had to reshape how some of our set-ups, and ball movement, and things like that work as well. A lot’s had to change, and I think that’s the changing face of footy,"

"The amount of players that change clubs in the offseason these days, and other things that go on, you’ve got to be on the fly. Even playing practise matches over the past couple of weeks, one of our themes was ‘does this work, we need to see this, do we need to tweak that, what do we need to do?’ I think having that flexible approach, but then having a good understanding of who we have, the talent that we’ve got, and manipulating that to the best of what we think would be good for the division.”

Depth and development of young players is always a critical factor in the ongoing success of a club, so since Warrandyte has struggled to field a 19s side in the recent past, this has been a major focus of the offseason. Not only is Donahoo looking for good footballers to join, but good people to build an attractive culture, and a place that will retain players for years to come.

“Over the last few years, a couple of weeks out from the season, our under 19s have been a real focus to try and fill those last spots. But we got on the front foot early with our boys and brought down a few, and we’ve recruited a lot of players across all men’s teams. We’ll have a very different look across the three sides that run out this week,"

"That was part of what we needed to do, reset and bring in those good characters. We’ve worked hard, but we’ve had some fun over the preseason, and I think from what we’ve seen so far we’re on the right track, now we have to test that on field.”

Defensively Warrandyte struggled last year, conceding an average of 106 points per game in 2024.

This has prompted a rethink about how the team will set up defensively, along with a change in personnel down back. Despite being the lowest division, there are some lethal forward lines in Division Four, and Donahoo has identified the need to be prepared for that.

“I would say our backline is going to look pretty different personnel wise. There’s probably seven or eight debutants in the senior side this week, three or four of those might be down back. But we’re under no illusions, especially late in the year we let a couple of big scores in against us,"

"That’s two-fold, that’s issues with your defence, but it’s also the pressure up the ground with your midfielders and forwards that are allowing that. There are some good forward lines around Division Four including Whitehorse and Croydon North MLOC. We’ll need to be better back there, so there’s definitely been a good focus to readjust and change that.”

As implied above, it has been a busy offseason for Warrandyte on the recruiting front, and there are a number of names which Donahoo is excited about pulling on the red and white for season 2025.

Alex Simpson and Lukas Fellows come from Lancefield in the Riddell District League, both having played important roles for that club since 2021, after having come from Prahran and Thomastown respectively.

Emphasising the focus of being a community club, consistent performer for Warrandyte, Jack Bradford, has also brought over a couple of family members to take to the field for the Bloods. Amongst other recruits, these will add to the depth of Warrandyte’s list as a whole, something which is much needed after a couple of injury-riddled seasons.

“Alex Simpson and Lukas Fellows came across from Lancefield, we’ve been on their tail for a few years trying to get them involved,"

"That’s exciting for us, they’ve both played some good footy. Then there’s Jack Bradford, he’s got his brother and cousin playing with us as well. James Bradford and Will Nelson, they’ll take to the field this week, which is adding some experience, but also close-knit family members of current players. So that will be exciting having them run out with us.”

“What we went through last year, we didn’t have the depth that we wanted to. I think the enviable position we’re in this year is that we’re going to have a lot more depth, and there’s going to be pressure from the development side to play in the senior side. Last year we didn’t have that at times, and it was really hard to make a lot of changes to the senior team in certain weeks. Overall our reserve pool will be a lot stronger.”

The aim for clubs who have slipped down into Division Four will always be to regain their spot in Division Three, and the same is true for Warrandyte.

The standard of footy they were able to produce in their wins, and a couple of their close losses should hold them in good stead if they are able to maintain it.

With multiple other sides battling to elevate themselves next year Donahoo is confident that his side will be able to rise to that challenge.

“I think we’re ready to play in Division Three, but the competition is going to tell us whether or not we can. It’s a really hard thing to gauge. I think our bets footy last year was good enough to stay in Division Three, we just couldn’t do that consistently,"

"If we match up to that this year, I think we’re going to have standard that is capable to go back up and play there. But there’s going to be four or five other teams that are going to think exactly the same way and try and do that,"

"We’re confident in what we’re doing, and we’re aiming to be back in Division Three, whether that’s next year or the year after, that’s where we want to go, there’s no secret behind that. We’ve got to keep people healthy, keep our systems, and obviously it’s a long year on field. If we can do everything right early on to give ourselves a chance of doing that later in the year.”

Especially with the wildcard of Bulleen-Templestowe in the mix, Donahoo is aware that Division Four will be a competitive field to take on.

“We’ve looked internally, but you’ve got to look externally as well. We’ve had a look at Bulleen-Templestowe in their couple of practise matches, and they’re looking very good. I think they might be underestimated by a few on what we’ve seen."

"They towelled up Fairpark from Division Three on the weekend. So that’s giving them some confidence and form before they come out on Saturday. But you can’t go past Whitehorse, they played in the Grand Final last year obviously, and they’ve recruited some more depth, as well as a few top liners. Croydon North MLOC reserves played in a Grand Final, so they have an up and coming list now with some experience around them,"

"But I think Bulleen-Templestowe and Whitehorse, our first two, you won’t get a better measuring stick for where we’re at. Then we come out and play Kilsyth on ANZAC Day, that’s three sides I think that will give us a run for our money.”

“You think back to Div Four over the years and the top half was good, the bottom half wasn’t so good, and there was a real divide. As Nunawading is unfortunate, and Forest Hill has some struggles, but are building and still recruiting at the moment."

"I think that fourth spot in Division Four is going to be red-hot, and there’s six teams that are going to be fighting for that. It makes for a really good competition, and you don’t want every second week to win by twenty goals, I don’t think that’s what anyone wants. We want competition and we want to test ourselves against the best of what we can, at the moment it’s Division Four, so bring it on, and hopefully we can move up from there.”

Warrandyte will begin their latest stint in Division Four by testing out the newcomers, Bulleen-Templestowe at Warrandyte in Round One.

In their second year in with a women’s side, Warrandyte have started to find success. After a 2023 season with only two wins, they remain in Division Four this year, after narrowly missing finals in season 2024.

A draw against a finals-bound Fairpark in Round 1 meant that they were only half a game out of making it to the finals weeks of the year. Seven wins from the thirteen games they played shows a tremendous improvement from their 2023 year.

The Blood’s women’s side were able to retain most of their talent from the previous year, and the extra year of development shone through.

Maddision Trewella, along with the Callow sisters Meg and Evie continued to improve, while Grace Lloyd was always a handy inclusion, kicking 9 goals in her 6 games for the year.

Eden Carruthers ended up being the leading goal-kicker, however, kicking 14 goals in 10 games, landing her as the 7th highest goal-scorer in the division.

The biggest inclusion to the side this year will be Eilish Vaughn, a consistent performer for Park Orchards in Division One. Her experience at the higher levels of women’s footy will bring an extra edge that senior women’s coach Mark Trewella will look to capitalise on.

The Warrandyte girls will start their 2025 campaign in a home match against Nunawading in Round One.