2014 Season Review
While there is not much to be achieved by looking backwards you cannot put the season in perspective unless you look at the player losses during the off- season. How was the club expected to remain in the top grade when 28 players who represented the club at senior level in 2013 were not playing in 2014?
The list included some absolute top liners - Jake Williams, Sam Pickett, Matt Hine, Justin Baxter, Luke Semmel, Sam Haslem, Nick Roberts, Jack Vickers and many others. Several B & F winners, place getters and state representatives. It was reported that 10 of the top 12 from the 2013 B & F count were not playing in 2014. Add to this a few retirements, several enforced injury lay offs and an unprecedented number of travelers and you can see why De La were just about everyone’s tip for relegation and why many within the club approached the season with a fair degree of pessimism. We even lost one of best young talents to a Cricket Victoria contract ! A good number of depth players and great clubmen also departed, which seriously impacted the depth and strength, the club had built at reserves level. This by extension sadly led to the demise of the 3rds in the first half of the season.
But it was not all doom and gloom. On the positive side a concerted recruiting drive delivered top quality players such as Matt Fieldsend, Sam Williams, Ant Forato, Tom Curry and others but the large number of departures certainly tipped the balance the other way.
A major coup for the club was landing Paul Satterley as coach. It was an extraordinary effort from Paul and his team to sustain the club in the top grade on the back of such unprecedented player losses. Additionally the positivity and sprit around the club was amazing, a feather in the cap of all concerned - players, coaches committee and officials. In fact despite the precarious position the club as in for most of the season it was widely reported that the playing group was the closest and most cohesive for years.
The reality was that to remain competitive we need all out best players out there every week. While our senior group showed enormous resilience the prolonged absences of some experienced top line players such as Matt Moore, David Lowe and Tim Kovess really hurt, as unlike recent seasons we did not have the depth to cover these absences.
The senior group was superbly led on and off the field by Matt Fieldsend, Jake Gotch and Sam Williams. That trio is amongst the best players in the competition and despite close scrutiny most weeks they never played a bad game. When Dave Lowe came back in the second half see why he is held is such high esteem at this club and his natural leadership qualities were obvious.
The stand out player this season was unquestionably Tom ‘Puck’ Humphrey. Still a relative youngster, he took his game to another level this ‘ season, winning the senior Best and Fairest award by a big margin. Always held in high regard at the club he is now rated universally as one of the top players in the competition. Tom also won the prestigious Bernie Sheehy award for most outstanding senior achievement. He placed second in the VAFA coaches MVP and was named full back in the Premier team of the year. Puck was also a regular nominee for VAFA “’mark of the week” and eventually took home the season prize for his grab against Old Xavs in Rd 15.
Another player worthy of special mention is Dan Close. For a combination of reasons Dan has not been able to have a decent crack at establishing himself as senior player. This year the faith shown by the coach was rewarded with Dan being one of the most consistent performers all year and runner up in the senior B & F, narrowly edging Matt Fieldsend who finished third. This was terrific effort by Matt who is heavily tagged most weeks. Jake Gotch and Sam Williams also in the mix for placings for much of the count.
The future of the club was on display with U19 players making up a good portion of the team each week. In the absence of gun forward Matt Moore young Charlie Haley (who despite being in his second year of senior football was still eligible for U19s) became the clubs primary goal kicker. An absolute stand out youngster was the silky skilled Adrian Indoviono who came up from the 19s in round 5 and never looked back on his way to winning the best first year player award. Young hard nut mid fielder Luke Gogis who turned 18 during the season was a regular senior player by the end of the year. Oscar Persson, another eligible for 19s played some fantastic games for the club when on release from Sandringham VFL and will develop in to a top class ruckmen. Liam Wood, who played some senior football last year also took his game to another level. Straight out of the 19s Liam became our primary inside midfielder and was awarded the Ron Wilson award, which recognises the commitment and effort of young senior players. Those who remember the way club great Aaron Shields went about things would love the way Liam plays his footy. Other U19s to taste senior football where Hamish Ramsay and Sefton McGaw and both will become senior regulars in coming seasons. It should be noted that with the best U19s playing senior football the very young 19 Blues suffered as a consequence. However the future looks bright with close to 80 % of the list being bottom age, particularly with a very young 19 Golds team having such a terrific season. At the other end of the spectrum veteran defenders Tom Moloney and Ben Oakley were as reliable as ever
I sincerely doubt that many clubs could lose that many senior quality players and avoid relegation but someone we managed do just that. Those who saw Paul Sattlerly in action will see that he inspired the entire club and his positive attitude instilled some genuine belief. Player harmony was the best for years with the closeness of the group sustaining them through a tough season. The club is blessed to have senior coach with the pedigree of Paul and quality assistants in Mick Brown, Tom Madigan, Ash Lever and Lachie Walker. The coaching team deserved better but there is no doubt that Paul’s ability to remain positive and develop the group will reap rewards in seasons to come.
Over the course of the season it was only the all-conquering Uni Blacks who really got hold of us. In most games the team was very competitive with generally only a quarter or a small bad patch here and there deciding the result. An inability to win the close matches really hurt as we lost a good number of games by a kick, including 3 over the 5 rounds against teams in finals contention. While it was disappointing to lose so many close games it demonstrated how far the team had come and how close they are to mixing it with the better teams.
So the season that started with so much pessimism ended full of optimism. While it is still too early to talk about 2015 recruits the news so far is good incredibly exciting. Many of the 2013 departures are returning plus some very talented recruits are on the horizon, including several who have already committed.
So ‘cheer cheer’ in 2015. We can’t wait for it to roll around.
Last Modified on 15/10/2014 19:43
