Tara Murray
The hard work on the track is showing off for Werribee, but there’s a lot more than just the playing group stepping up for the Victorian Football League club.
With a club record 14 wins in a row, Werribee is the envy of many clubs in the VFL right now, with a strong fit playing list and the results going its way.
Competing against AFL-aligned clubs is never easy and for Werribee a lot of work has been put in behind the scenes to make the resources are in place to take the club to the next level.
Werribee football manager Mark Micallef said they continue to focus on their high performance team to ensure that they can get the best out of the players.
“Our high performance team is highly regarded for a VFL-standard,” he said. “Gaetano Faranda came at the start of the year having been at Box Hill and Williamstown and has a really good reputation.
“He has been a breath of fresh air and our ability to run out games has improved dramatically.”
Micallef said the number of staff in the high performance team has grown as the professionalism of the program has.
They now have four physios, two full time, headed by Shea Mulkearns joined the club this year.
They also have two doctors, a strength and conditioning team lead by James Welsh, plus trainers, sports scientists and analysts.
Micallef said much of the work done by the team is revolved around when the players aren’t at the club.
“Our analytics are a step ahead of other VFL clubs,” he said. “Week in, week out and there’s a good balance of analytics of local players too.
“We’ve put in a lot of resources and it’s held us in good stead. We’ve always been a resource heavy club.
“Mick [Barlow] and team have had other areas that we need to improve on and we’ve seen a massive growth in the strength and conditioning to push to that next level.”
Micallef said one of the biggest challenges of the club was knowing they were going up against teams that consist of full time athletes.
He said they were continuing to try and find ways to level the playing field.
“We have to think what we can do to catch the full time athletes,” he said.
“Our high performance team is doing a good job and doing program recovery. We have decent software so when they’re not here we can monitor them. The high performance team does a good job, not just when they are face to face. They train three items a week away from the club.”
Faranda has always watched Werribee from afar, so when the opportunity to join the club as its high performance manager, it was an opportunity he jumped at.
He’s no stranger to the VFL scene, having been at Box Hill and Williamstown.
“I’ve grown up in Werribee and been here my whole life,” he said. “They are the local team I followed as a boy.
“I’ve known people who have gone through the system and the program in the day and they’ve spoken a lot of good things.
“The opportunity came up and it was a no brainer to apply. I love footy and the AFL-VFL environment, I can’t get away from.”
Faranda said the biggest thing for him at Werribee had been the people and said he had been keen to be part of something that allowed the growth of the players and staff.
He said the state of the art facilities were something that also made the role easier.
Having come in late in the pre-season, Faranda said that he had only made small changes so far.
“The old manager in the role had been there for a while and the standards were quite set,” he said.
“Day one I started with a friend of mine the head physio in pure coincidence. He messaged me one day and was going for an interview at Werribee and so was I.
“It made it easier for us knowing each other and what needs to change straight away and what can wait.
“We looked at how the season was going to look for 2023 and in 2024 we will have bigger system changes off field for the players and staff.”
Faranda said he and Mulkearns like to push the barriers a little bit with getting players back from injuries.
He said the challenge to match the AFL-aligned sides was something they continue to work on.
“It’s only two nights a week you get to see them. They get to training and we implement a program to get the best out of every individual and that is showing in performance.”
As the team prepares for the final round of the season and finals, Micallef said the work won’t only ramp up for the players, but also the people behind the scenes.
“The commitment of the staff we have, can not ever be measured,” he said.
“They do the work week in week out and most only see the players.“
