By Lance Jenkinson
The rise of Point Cook Centrals into Western Region Football League division 3 premiership contender can be traced back to last season.
The Sharks – then known as Sanctuary Lakes before an off season rebranding – committed to regenerating with youth.
It was a tough season, one which saw the Sharks win just four games, but it was necessary to give their youngsters enough experience at that level.
On Saturday, the Sharks, superbly led by Luke Henderson and Brent Sheean in the midfield and four goals from Michael Szulc, thumped Laverton by 138 points to remain steady in third place and among the sides vying for a finals double chance.
Sharks coach Darren Findlay is thrilled with the amount of youngsters on the list who are producing good football in both the seniors and reserves, who sit top of the ladder.
He reckons the fast-tracking of some of those players in senior football last season was priceless.
“Last year we sort of started from scratch,” Findlay said.
“We rebuilt with a lot of the young kids and they are coming along really good.
“We’ve got a lot of games into them, some of them have 20 games, others are at the 30-game mark, but they’re still developing.”
One pre-season does not turn youngsters from also-rans to premiership contenders.
Point Cook Centrals also went out and targeted some more seasoned campaigners to add to the youngsters to ensure they are a more competitive unit this season.
“We targeted six or seven that we wanted and were lucky they all came,” Findlay said.
Point Cook Centrals met their targets of another pre-season into the youngsters and hit all the marks on their recruiting checklist.
Still, that would not have been enough for the Sharks to morph into a premiership.
What happened in the off season was the unexpected arrival of a further 10 experienced campaigners that virtually fell in Findlay’s lap.
It was a major unexpected boost for the Sharks that quietly moved them into the upper echelon of teams before a ball had been kicked.
“We picked up an extra 10 players just through luck, some handy players who can play at a good level,” he said.
“It was right place at the right time signings I suppose.
“It’s strengthened our list a fair bit.”
All of a sudden, Point Cook Centrals have two deep teams, a senior team with enough talent to emerge as a title threat and a reserve team that will maintain the pressure on the firsts until the final game.
“Everyone on that senior list earns their spot week in week out,” Findlay said.
“You’ve got to play well to hold your spot and with the reserves on top, there’s always pressure from that group as well.
“It’s what you want, a really strong club and that’s what we’ve got at the moment list-wise.”
Point Cook Centrals will face fourth-placed Braybrook in a finals-like game at Pennell Reserve on Saturday.
