It was a case of weighing up risks versus rewards for Glenorden coach Nick Diker.
He could take the safe option and slowly build for the future or make bold off-season moves that would mean a flag or bust.
Diker decided to roll the dice and do it his own way – and now he
is a premiership coach after leading the Hawks to a 43-point win over
Parkside in the Western Region Football League division 2 grand final on
Sunday.
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“When I got here two years ago, the club was on a downward spiral,” Diker said.
“I thought there’s two ways you could go – recruit a couple of
young guys and maybe get us mid-table for a few years and see how we go,
or turn the club right around … that’s what I like to think we did.
“We didn’t spend huge money … people will say that we did, but we didn’t. But we got the right people involved.”
The biggest gamble Diker took was his most rewarding.
There were queries over the signing of 38-year-old Damien Yze to spearhead the forward line.
Yze has 136 goals to his name and five important majors in a grand final to suggest Diker got it right.
“When I recruited him, I got a lot of talk … ‘Why did you recruit a
38-year-old guy who is pretty much done and dusted?’,” Diker said. “I
said, ‘It’s because we needed a goalkicker and somebody with a bit of
experience’ … there’s the result. Super-fit guy, really good guy to have
at the club – he lives in Templestowe but never misses training, never
misses a game and never misses a recovery. He’s just a legend to have
around the club.”
Diker has experienced premierships in his career, but never as a senior coach prior to Sunday.
He described it as the “best feeling ever” to lead the Hawks back to the premiership podium for the first time since 2006.
“It’s a bit surreal at the moment,” he said.
The Hawks’ future is up in the air. They are no certainties to be promoted to division 1 despite their dominant season.
Their last stay in the top flight turned into a horrible experience and they will want to avoid a repeat at all costs.
On the flipside, the club is more stable, has new facilities is more attractive to recruits because of its win-now attitude.
Perhaps it will want to strike while the iron is hot. Diker says that is a “50-50” call as it stands.
“We’ve got to weigh everything up,” he said. “I’m not going to be one of these guys who says, ‘We’re going up and that’s it’.
“We’ll have a big meeting when we need to let the league know, and I want to get everyone’s opinion on it.
“I don’t want to be a division-2 coach – I want to go up, onwards and upwards, and I think I’m capable.”
