Words: Michael Flynn, Football Queensland
Image: Keith Eigeland, Football Queensland

Don’t judge me now, judge me in a year – that’s the message from South West Queensland Thunder Head Coach Chris Watt as his team struggle to find their feet in the early rounds of the NPL Queensland season.

Competing in the senior men’s division for the first time this year after qualifying for last year’s Under 20’s Grand Final, the Toowoomba-based Thunder admit they are struggling to compete with clubs that have had the benefit of bedding in to the competition in 2013.

However, despite amassing four consecutive defeats of five goals or more, Watt was adamant he didn’t have to defend Thunder’s place in the competition as they deliver the NPL Queensland pathway for the south-west region.

“I could go into a big long story about why it is the way it is in Toowoomba, but the fact of the matter is that we got a very young team,” Watt explained.

“I think Ange Postecoglou said when he was at Roar, ‘don’t judge me now judge me in in a year’s time’.”

“I think everyone at Football Queensland and the other clubs need to give us twelve months because we need time to bring the young players through.”

The season started promisingly for Thunder when they won their opening match of the NPL Queensland season against CQFC Energy only to see that result overturned when the Rockhampton club withdrew from the competition after three rounds.

Thunder are therefore without a competitive win this season, but Watt said that’s not how his team should be judged at this stage in their development.

“I suppose they need to judge us on how we are playing and not so much the goal count. In realistic terms it’s pretty hard for a 17-year-old boy to match it against a 26-year-old man.”

“You just got to put things into perspective. When this group becomes 20, and when we get a couple of older senior players back, you’ll see a difference in the way we play. We’ll be able to compete physically as well as mentally.”

Watt also explained that while there are talented and experienced players in the ranges and beyond right now, they simply aren’t prepared to commit to the rigours of NPL football on a weekly basis.

“The old players in and around Toowoomba just don’t want to play NPL,” he said.

“They just don’t want to travel and they are probably beyond the age to play NPL. They are getting up to 27 or 28, so we are better off blooding the younger players and that’s where we are at now.”

“Sometimes I look and wonder why 30-odd year old guys are running around in NPL, to be honest with you.”

While Watt remains optimistic about the future of NPL football in Toowoomba and the south-west, he remains pragmatic that he may not be around when the success inevitably arrives.

“I know when I took the job at the start of the year that I was the fall guy – I’m not an idiot.”

“I also know that no top side coach has lasted in Toowoomba probably any longer than six months in the past ten or twelve years.”

“There’s guys come up from Brisbane, they’ve last two or three months and off they’ve gone. So I’ve lasted longer than them and I’ll keep trying and keep doing what I do.”

Watt said that the community was behind the club as he seeks continues to lay the foundations for Toowoomba to become a hub for football in the greater south-west region.

“We’ll get the support from the community, for sure. Our first home game, which was probably our first full day (of fixtures), we had more people than the previous three games, so we had a good showing.”

“We’ll get a lot of support from our people at home, they are quite loyal and they will stand behind us.”

He said he also wouldn’t be distracted from his task by naysayers from those outside the region.

“There are always going to be knockers in football, and that’s fine by us.” he concluded.