Season 2013 ended on such a high. For the club to go from not winning a game in 2012, to winning a premiership (albeit in a grade below) was massive. I didn’t think the feelings of relief, satisfaction, pride and most of all, enjoyment, could be beaten. Fast forward 12 months to September 2014 and I was wrong. Back-to-back premiers we were and how good did it feel?!
The 2014 season kicked off in late 2013 with four weeks (eight sessions) of training before Christmas. Numbers weren’t great and I began to worry if some of the boys were satisfied with the one flag we had won a couple of months earlier. It is amateur footy, however, and the boys needed a break! Some promising signs were the addition of some young blood at training. Ben Traeger-Haig hardly missed a session and there were a number of 16 year olds in attendance regularly (Carnovale, Hill, Donald etc)
After the Christmas break we started up training around Australia Day and numbers started to improve. Along with this, the amount “senior” players at training also improved – probably due to the fact we could train at Boss James as opposed to a park up the road. We played three practice matches in March but it was hard to get a true indication of how we were going as we never had close to a full team in any of those. Once again though, it was great to see our younger players showing some real potential in these matches.
Season proper started at home against Parkdale and couldn’t have been a better start to the season with a fantastic 85 point win. This was followed by another dominant victory over Marcellin, who were early season favourites, and then our third straight victory against arch rivals, Ormond. The season had begun in great fashion although during this time we had a few injuries as well as farewelling Corp and Verlin on overseas trips.
Our momentum came to a screeching halt in rounds 4-6. Three straight losses to PEGS (10+ goals) out at their playing fields, Peninsula (our first and only loss at Boss James over the last two years) and a close, low-scoring loss to Monash in the wind put us 3-3 after six rounds and had us sitting in 7th position. Interesting to note that Parkdale were 8th at this stage.
Arguably our most important match of the home and away season was our round 7 class against Oakleigh. It was close all day with the scores at each break being; Oakleigh by 5 points at ¼ time, scores level at half time and Oakleigh by 1 point at ¾ time. We had wasted our opportunities throughout the day and although I felt we were on top, we simply hadn’t done enough to get on top of, let alone break away from, Oakleigh. It was a tough and hard fought last quarter which included some clutch goals from Matt Care and Josh Pavlou. The siren sounded shortly after a desperate save in the opposition goal square by Rory Lynch with the ball deep in Oakleigh’s forward half and most importantly, with Hampton Rovers up by 2 points. A loss would have put us back to 8th but with the win we moved to 5th and kept our win/loss ration above 50%. This win was huge and got our season back track.
Three more wins followed and had us sitting in 3rd position after round 10. We weren’t playing our best football during this period and was the time when we were tested in terms of availability to players. However, we were playing some of the sides in the bottom half of the ladder so we managed to get away with some much needed victories.
Round 11 saw us play against the eventual Grand Finalists in Parkdale and was a real wake-up call that the football we had been playing would not be enough to win a premiership. It was a very cold and windy day out at “The Carcass” and it’s fair to say they played the conditions better than us. In saying that, they would’ve had our measure no matter when conditions we played in. Their attack, attitude and pressure were well above ours. A 10 goal to 1 third quarter blew us away and they came off 70 point winners – a 155 point turnaround from our Round 1 meeting!
From Round 12 to Round 18 saw seven straight victories and especially towards the end of the season had us playing some really good football. There was a major escape in Round 15 against eventual wooden spooners, Banyule, where we got up by 1 point. Apart from this hiccup, the other six rounds in this period consisted of very good and convincing wins against Marcellin, Peninsula, Monash, Oakleigh and Old Camberwell. Throughout this period there were some welcome additions to the side; Nathan Smith and Cam Sharp played their first games for the year coming off long-term injuries, Josh Verlin had returned from overseas, we had access to some BGS boys (Christian Carnovale, Jack Toouli and Harry Hill) as the school season had finished and our injury list as a whole was decreasing. However, there were two key injuries during this period to two of our vice-captains in Mark Devereaux and Kyle Pinto. They were long-term injuries and both of the boys would be racing against time make it back for a Grand Final should we make it.
Our solid finish to the season and especially our Round 16 win against Monash meant that we finished the Home and Away season in second place and had earned the right to play Marcellin in the second semi-final. We’d beaten Marcellin twice throughout the year by a combined total of 20+ goals so were confident we had what it took to knock them off again. The conditions at Trever Barker Oval were perfect and we also welcomed back Danny Corp to the side after three months in the states. Although probably not at his absolute best, he was an important inclusion as he caused headaches for the opposition coaches and probably ended up in our top few players. We went in at half time up by about 5 goals and were very happy with how we’d been playing. Another half like that and we were into a Grand Final and just as importantly, B grade. The wind which is often a factor at Sandringham had swung around and got stronger during the main break which meant Marcellin were kicking with it in the 3rd. Hampton Rovers kicked the first and last goals of the quarter, however, Marcellin managed five goals seven behinds in between our two goals and at one stage took the lead. Our late goal had Hampton Rovers leading by 3 point at the final break. Although Marcellin did have the momentum and I’m sure our supporters were worried, we were confident that with a strong breeze aiding us that we could gather momentum quickly with a couple of early goals. This occurred and we ran out 34 point winners after a dominant last quarter. This meant B grade in 2015 and a Grand Final in two weeks’ time.
The other final that weekend saw Parkdale beat Monash in the first semi-final knocking Monash (who were second for most of the year) out of the finals. The following week we ventured out to Casey Fields to watch the preliminary final between Marcellin and Parkdale. Parkdale really dominated Marcellin and left us wondering whether Marcellin had a bad day or were Parkdale a more impressive team than we’d previously given them credit. Parkdale were comfortable winners and were to be our opposition in the Grand Final.
Grand Final day came and once again, conditions were perfect for football. The standard breeze was blowing at Sandringham but it wasn’t going to influence the game and as we saw early in the game, teams could kick goals into it. We got off to a flying start kicking the first four goals into the breeze and although I believe we didn’t capitalise on our dominant play, we were still up by 19 points at ¼ time. The second quarter saw us double our lead and we were by 38 points, 66-28 at the main break. We kicked the first goal of the third quarter into the breeze and I’m sure many people around the ground thought we had broken Parkdale. We were wrong as Parkdale kept coming and kicked the next four goals leaving the game well and truly alive and ¾ time. The last quarter was a bit of a stale mate which consisted of multiple stoppages between the arcs. This played into our hands and were happy to let it keep happening as we held onto a 3-4 goal lead. The final siren sounded with Hampton Rovers up by 27 points, 91-64.
We were premiers again. Back-to-back. From D1 to B grade over the space of 18 months. Plenty of hard work had gone into the two years and we were reaping the rewards yet again. There definitely were some tough times throughout the year as we were tested with injury, unavailability through a number of reasons and perhaps a lack of motivation at certain stages. It is worth noting that 51 players played Senior football for Hampton Rovers this year. This sort of number is usually what you see at a club down the bottom of the ladder experimenting with many players, not the sort of number you see at a premiership club. The Club has set their sights on getting to A grade and whilst it is still a long way off and there is much hard work to do, it’s certainly not as far off as it was at the end of 2012. What we’ve achieved over the last two seasons is very impressive and all involved should be very proud.
2015 will be a bigger challenge again as we take on B grade. It’s generally accepted that the jump between C and B is probably the greatest in the VAFA. And whilst I’m confident if our Grand Final 22 were to play every week we would make finals in B grade, I’m well aware this is unlikely due to the number of injuries and availabilities amateur clubs face throughout the year. We need see another level of commitment by our senior players, have our younger players develop and hope we can add some more quality to our playing list. Our first aim will be to not get relegated and even play finals but I will save the predictions and goals until closer to the season’s beginning. The challenge is great but personally, I am looking forward to it and looking forward to seeing how our players respond – will they be satisfied with what they’ve achieved or are they still hungry for more?!
Personally, I would like to thank a number of people for their roles at the club this year;
Owen Lalor – our “assistant” coach. The club would not have achieved what we have without this man on board. His football knowledge is fantastic but it is equally matched by his ability to communicate with players (both positive and negative) and the subsequent respect he has from them.
Matthew “Mitzy’ Gray – the prez. Mitzy’s role in setting the club up as been unbelievable and although often recognised, the level and amount of work he does often goes unnoticed.
Anthony “Freddie Foulmouth” Naumoff – the secretary. Freddie does a mountain of work behind the scenes. Dealing with councils, the VAFA, independent organisations and pretty much anyone wanting to contact the club goes through Freddie. A tireless and voluntary job whose work is a key component to the club running.
David Rogerson – the runner. Unfortunately for “Rogo” he didn’t get to run on Grand Final day (or the last part of the season) due to him being injured and also senior players being injured and unable to play but able to run. However, Rogo’s contribution was probably more significant at training. Rogo hardly missed a training session all year and would regularly help Owen and myself throughout the year with drills.
Steven “Spider” Kennedy – the other assistant. Spider missed the majority of the season due to travel but was still an important member of the coaching staff and we valued and appreciated his input when involved and not travelling the world!
Stephen Kidd – the ressies coach. This was “Kiddy’s” first year at the club and had the unenviable job of coaching the reserves. Unenviable in that he often didn’t know his team until moments before the game. He had to deal with his side regularly changing and helped us in assisting getting players ready for senior football as opposed to simply doing what he could to get a win for the reserves. Kiddy also helped out in the seniors on match day with looking after rotations and running the board.
John Cesario – the Under 19’s coach. Again, John knew that the club’s success is based around the seniors. I know at other clubs, Under 19 coaches get a bit upset when younger players play in the seniors. This wasn’t the case with John as he completely understood us wanting to play boys who were still eligible to play for him. I thank John for his understanding and congratulate him on winning an Under 19 PREMIERSHIP this year. It’s reward for the hard work he has put in over the last two years.
Sebastian “Snag” Wright – the 3rds coach. A selfless job that requires more time than the recognition he gets. The thirds are a feeder for the reserves side and Snag knew this and his priority was the seniors and reserves doing well, not his thirds.
Bill Campbell and Max Grimmer – the stats men. Billy and Max looked after our stats again this year and came in handy throughout the season, especially when we noticed some deficiencies in our game. It was great to have the stats there to show our players.
Kirsty, Sonja and the trainers – the girls (and guys in the second half of the year) were great for us at training and on match day helping with rubs, strapping, hydration, lollies etc.
Gary Nash – the vice-president. The list of things Gary does around the club would be too long to mention. If something needs to be done and we can’t find anyone to do it, Gary will. From cooking a BBQ for the boys after a pre-season training to opening his doors for the supporters for a drink before our Grand Final.
Dean Lovig – Dean put in a lot of time and effort into the club. Helping to organise Thursday night dinners and of course, the author of “The Inner Sanctum”, are just a couple of things Dean does to help the club run effectively. Another many behind the scenes that does more work than people think.
Everyone else – There are many more people involved at the club who do a mountain of work to make the club run as effectively and efficiently as it does. I thank all those involved and really do appreciated the often thankless work you.
Looking forward to 2015.
