For a club starved of success at the highest level, Footscray’s re-entry into the VFL has been widely embraced by long-suffering Western Bulldogs supporters.
From an on-field perspective, Footscray has already proven to be a resounding success, with the side winning the premiership in 2014 - their first season in the VFA/VFL competition since 1924.
In addition, the club serves an important function as a platform for Western Bulldogs’ listed players, including a contingent of highly rated early draft selections, to gain senior experience in Australia’s premier state-based football competition.
These factors, combined with the return of football to the newly renamed Victoria University Whitten Oval in Footscray’s heartland, have propelled record attendances and a level of interest that would have exceeded the expectations of even the most optimistic Western Bulldogs board member.
Indeed, less than two years have passed since the board first announced that the Western Bulldogs would field its own VFL team at the conclusion of their alignment with Williamstown. Afforded the opportunity to choose the name of the standalone entity, club members voted overwhelmingly in favour of ‘Footscray’, the name used by the Western Bulldogs in the VFL/AFL between 1925 and 1996. While the choice to go standalone was not without risk – with added cost associated with fielding a standalone VFL side - the decision has clearly paid dividends for the club and its supporter base.
The extent to which Bulldogs supporters have since embraced the resurrected Footscray identity was no better exemplified than last year’s strongly pro-Footscray Grand Final crowd of 23,816, the largest at a VFA/VFL decider since 1978.
Ashley Hansen, a former West Coast premiership player and now Footscray senior coach, originally joined the Western Bulldogs as a development coach at the end of 2012. At that time, the club was about to embark upon the final year of its partnership with Williamstown.
During the 2013 season, Williamstown – who inflicted the clubs third defeat of the season on Sunday - imposed a selection policy that limited selection to 11 AFL-listed players in the Seagulls’ senior side, with the effect that numerous Western Bulldogs players were forced to play in the VFL development league each week.
"Each one of our listed players gets to play senior football each week, which is a fantastic opportunity, Hansen said.
“We can have a development focus with each individual in regards to game time, positional requirements and continuity of coaching from mid-week to the weekend’s performance".
Hansen commenced in the role of Footscray senior coach shortly after the team won the 2014 premiership under the leadership of Chris Maple. Maple was promoted to the Head of Development with the Western Bulldogs this past off-season.
For Hansen, the transition to the top job has been relatively seamless. Despite a round one loss to last year’s runner up, Box Hill, a four-point upset at the hands of an impressively accurate Collingwood in round three and the latest loss to former aligned partner Williamstown, Footscray are still one of the teams to beat this year, sitting inside the top eight after eight rounds.
Recently they registered an historic 146-point win over a hapless North Ballarat, ensuring the Roosters' heaviest defeat since joining the competition in 1996.
That match highlighted Footscray’s young talent and provided a statement to the broader competition. The Western Bulldogs’ first selection in the 2014 National Draft and 26th selection overall, Toby McLean, kicked five goals. Lukas Webb, who was taken with the very next pick, kicked four. Jack Redpath, a developing key tall with only three games of AFL experience, also booted five. Webb and Jackson Macrae, the latter selected with pick six in the 2012 National Draft, were named best afield for the Bulldogs.
After an impressive Round 7 VFL performance, judged best on ground in Footscray's 66-point win over Frankston, MclEan was rewarded with his AFL debut, joining Webb and Macrae in the senior side.
Notwithstanding Footscray's results this season, Hansen insists the club's emphasis is all to do with process:
"We’re trying to develop competitive and disciplined footballers and that can lead to a one point win or it can lead to a 100 point result depending on the weekend,”he said.
“Trying to get a win doesn’t change, but the result can, and the attitude won’t change week to week".
When Footscray won the premiership last year, the team's success was largely attributable to players like Lin Jong, who was best afield in the preliminary final win over Port Melbourne prior to amassing 30 disposals in the Grand Final; Tory Dickson, who kicked 25 goals from 11 outings and Michael Talia, who played a crucial role in defence all season. Combined with the experience of veteran Norm Goss Medalist and 2014 Best and Fairest winner, Brett Goodes, they developed a winning attitude and a hunger for further success that has already begun to translate to AFL level.
For some, the Western Bulldogs have outperformed expectations in the AFL this season, winning four of their first six games, including an upset victory over last year's grand finalists Sydney at the SCG and a hard-fought 13-point loss to unbeaten flag favourites the Fremantle Dockers, in a match where Tory Dickson contributed a career-high seven goals. It is a remarkable contrast to the pre-season, where only Melbourne and St Kilda were at shorter odds to 'win' the wooden spoon.
However, Hansen says the Western Bulldogs' performance has been consistent with internal expectations. So far this season, Jong, Dickson and Talia -- all members of the 2014 VFL premiership side -- have become regular AFL players. He says that Western Bulldogs senior coach Luke Beveridge has been "big on where we can take our season and not having a ceiling". Hansen also acknowledges Footscray's ongoing aim "to get as many of (their) players playing and winning finals football at VFL level"as a factor that has contributed to the Western Bulldogs' success in the first third of the 2015 AFL season.
Despite growing up in the southeast of Melbourne and spending the entirety of his 78-game AFL career in Western Australia, Hansen is also acutely aware of the centrality of Whitten Oval to the history of the Western Bulldogs.
Hansen's understanding of Footscray's rich history belies his relatively short tenure at the club to date. And, while he might not care to admit it, the prospect of contributing his own chapter is clearly a motivating factor as Footscray seek to win consecutive VFA/VFL premierships for the first time in over 90 years.
Lynden Albiston is a match day broadcaster with Casey Radio 97.7FM
Last Modified on 07/06/2015 23:57
