InFocus 2022 – Noble Park

By Matt Fotia

Noble Park will be sticking to their guns in 2022, as Steve Hughes’ Bulls outfit looks to capitalise on a super tight Premier Division, following their impressive 2021 season.

The Bulls came into the 2021 campaign as a bit of an unknown, under the tutelage of someone new for the first time following over a decade of Mick Fogarty’s mentorship and were expected by many to finish upper mid table.

But the new look Bulls surged to finish second on the Premier Division ladder when time was called on the season, with Noble’s defensively tight system seeing them impress across the year, notching strong wins over South Croydon, Norwood, and Blackburn in the process.

Second year Bulls coach Steve Hughes is expected improvement across the board from his side, with plenty of players ready to hit their prime years.

“There’s always room for improvement,

“I guess the main message to our group throughout summer is that we want our second and third tier players to come up another level, that’s where the improvement will come from,

“We don’t expect that Ziggie Alwan is going to come back a better player or Jackson Sketcher or Kyle Martin, it’s more those guys that are in their early to mid 20’s that have huge scope for improvement.”

That being said Noble Park have added a handful of talented players to their lot across the off-season.

Shayne Allan returns from Edithvale-Aspendale to help increase their scoring potential, Jack Francis has made the switch from Chelsea, league best and fairest winner Chris Horton-Milne will add to their midfield stocks after transferring from Dingley and crafty mid-sized forward Matthew Clarke has intentions of playing for the Bulls following some time with Officer.

But it’s the inclusion of Knox ruck Jack Beech that has Hughes talking, with the former Dandenong Stingray providing the Bulls some much needed height.

“Jack adds a bit of flexibility for us,

“I don’t expect him to set the world on fire early on, he’s coming off finger surgery and misses a bit of training with work until we change training nights, but he just gives us that flexibility,

“Jake Gains did a lot of ruck work last year and we can probably settle him down back a little more and Kieren Byers has the ability to play forward,

“Beechy’s been involved in good systems, I was working with him when was at the Dandenong Stingrays and I was midfield coach,

“He gets across the ground really well, is really athletic and gives us some more options on gameday.”

The inclusion of those five and more won’t see Hughes steer away from his tried and tested game plan which saw Noble Park jump back into finals calculations in 2021.

“We won’t change much; I’ve coached the same way for the best part of a decade.”

“We focus on the defensive elements of the game, and everyone buys into that and really celebrate the defensive efforts of players that aren’t usually celebrated,

“So not much will change, just the personnel will really.”

Everything seems right for Noble Park to consider themselves one of the front runners for the Premier Division flag, but Hughes, like many of his coaching peers, is wary of the overall evenness of the top tier.

“I think it’s ripe for anyone.

“In our second last game we played Doncaster East who were bottom, or second bottom and they were giving us an absolute touch up at half time, you look at the players on their list and they’re sitting at the bottom end of the ladder,

“It’s up for grabs for sure.”