WYNDHAMVALE football manager Nathan Evans has warned his club that natural progression is not a given and will have to be earned in the Western Region Football League division 2 this season.
The Falcons are young and developing with lots of improvement in front of an exciting playing group and after falling an agonising one kick short of a grand final having won 11 in a row to make the preliminary final last season, the next logical step is for them to play off in the big one this September.
Evans said his players were driven to succeed and would get there if they didn’t lose sight of the smaller tasks along the way.
“They understand to get that next step further they have got to do that extra bit of work,” he said.
“They constantly are setting themselves the goal of going that one step further.
“We’re reining them back and making sure they keep an eye on the work that needs to be done before they start thinking of the dream.”
The Falcons get an early taste of football at a finals intensity when they visit Parkside for their season opener on Saturday. This is one of the matches of the opening round for the second tier and both will be desperate to get their campaigns off on the right footing.
Evans says the league is more even this year since the promotion of Deer Park with the majority of clubs in the finals calculations, making these blockbuster ‘eight-point’ games all the more important.
“It’s a really good comp this year,” he said.
“You’ve probably got eight or nine sides that have a realistic chance of being in that top five. Every game is important. For us to have Parkside first up, whether it’s Parkside or someone else, it’s still our first game, so everyone has got to be up and about, and if they’re not, you’ve got to have serious questions why they’re playing footy.
“Parkside will be a strong side again this year and us knocking them out of the finals last year won’t go any way to making it a light game, so we’ve prepared for a pretty tough game of four-quarter footy.”
The Falcons head into the new season fresh after just two pre-season matches, defeating Moyston Willaura and Inverleigh.
Player-coach Luke Dennerley is back at the helm of the Falcons and Evans can’t think of a better person he would want to see leading the Falcons in their quest for glory.
“He’s sensational for the club and the playing group,” he said.
“His tactical side of things is unbelievable, his thoroughness is something that I have never seen before in local footy and it’s not just him, but our entire coaching group works extremely hard.”
Glenorden will be hoping to make it two from two when Albanvale visits the Heathdale Oval in one of the other must-see games of division 2 this weekend.
In division 1, Hoppers Crossing could unveil quality new recruits Kade Carey, Aaron Ramsay and Daniel Riosa when it travels to North Footscray for its first match on Saturday. David Mitchell will be in charge for his second year as coach of the Warriors and the club appointed Brett Petrie as its new president in the off season.
The top-flight season will kick off under lights on Friday night, with St Albans clashing with Deer Park in a mouth-watering fixture at Kings Park Reserve. A big crowd is tipped for the first bounce at 7.45.
WRFL DRAW
Division 1: St Albans v Deer Park (Friday night), Spotswood v Albion, Sunshine v Sunshine Heights, Altona v Port Melbourne Colts, North Footscray v Hoppers Crossing.
Division 2: Braybrook v Yarraville-Seddon Eagles, Coburg Districts v West Footscray, Glenorden v Albanvale, North Sunshine v Laverton Magpies, Parkside v Wyndhamvale.
