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By: Daniel Cencic
Twitter: @DC_EFL
The Waverley Blues have undergone a transformation off the field this pre-season ahead of their upcoming Division 3 campaign.
New senior coach Bryce McGain has settled into the club after his appointment last September and has implemented a number of programs as the Blues look to improve, having been relegated from Division 2 winning just two matches last year.
“For us it was really stripping back what we wanted to achieve as a club and where we wanted to go,” McGain said.
“Obviously last year was a bit disappointing from a results perspective and now we find ourselves in Division 3, but I saw it as a real opportunity to put the things in place for us to have sustained and long-term success.”
McGain, a former cricketer, represented Australia in one Test in 2009, as well as the Victorian Bushrangers from 2002-2011.
He was part of the Bushrangers’ 2009-10 Sheffield Shield triumph and is keen to bring across the elements of a successful club environment.
“I’ve been really fortunate with my background in cricket and being involved in a really successful period with the Victorian Bushrangers particularly, to know how that (a successful environment) happens,” McGain said.
“Being able to put those into place at Waverley Blues has been excellent – it’s been awesome support from the committee – the relationship there has been so strong.
“What we’ve focussed on particularly is education of players – even players that have been around for some time love learning new stuff, they love enhancing their knowledge and they love having a professional environment to do it in.
“They’re the things fundamentally that I’ve been able to put in place and I’ve been really pleased with the way that the whole club’s embraced what we’re doing.
“You can be a really professional environment, seek to be high performers and still have an enormous amount of fun and enjoyment.”
The Blues have seen the departure of ex-captain Will Edwards and Ben Carboni (Wantirna South), along with ruckman Adam Swierzbolek (Coburg, VFL).
Through the leadership programs McGain has put in place, the departures have seen a number of players stand up.
“What it’s enabled is a number of other players to enhance their leadership capabilities,” McGain said.
“We’ve invested into that as well and educated on what peak performance is.
“You never want to see the back of any players but the positive is we’ve been able to put in programs that actually grow players and give them the green light to be leaders and they’re really flourishing in that.”
VFL-great Toby Pinwill has returned to the Blues after hanging up the boots with Port Melbourne at the end of last season.
Pinwill celebrates the 2017 VFL premiership with Port Melbourne coach Gary Ayres. PICTURE: Andy Brownbill
Pinwill played 205 matches for the Borough, winning two club best and fairests as well as playing in two premierships, winning the Norm Goss medal for best on ground in 2011. He was also named in the VFL Team of the Year on four occasions.
“From a playing perspective, Toby will add some bite to our team,” McGain said.
“He’s had pretty much 14 solid years of VFL footy and for him to come back to the home club that, as he said it, gave him the opportunity to be a VFL footballer, is excellent.
“He’s looking after our midfield and there’s no better player to do that.”
Pinwill is expected to take some time off before hitting his straps from May.
“He’ll look to really ramp things up from May onwards to play with the club week in week out, but we’re not putting too much pressure on him to do that,” McGain said.
The Blues have welcomed back 2008 premiership player Tom Miles after two years at Mitcham, while former Brisbane Lion Billy Evans has named the Waverley Blues as his home club, currently also listed with Box Hill in the VFL.
The Blues have also invested heavily in their under-19 players.
“He (Billy) is really invested and a big part of that is he’s got a lot of mates from where he grew up at our club,” McGain said.
“Our recruiting is more or less around that (developing existing players) – keeping who we have and we’ll see some improvement in our under-19s and a number of them will play seniors and that’s primarily where we are.
“That’s where a lot of our growth will come.”
Former Western Bulldogs star Lindsay Gilbee will serve as the club’s development coach, while former Sandringham coach Paul Hudson has had an invaluable presence at training.
“Having Lindsay Gilbee there weekly and Paul Hudson weekly coaching, their craft, skill and knowledge has been invaluable,” McGain said.
“I’ve been fortunate to have worked with those guys for a number of years and they’re really enjoying what they’re doing around the club.”
The expectation heading into the 2018 season is a holistic one for McGain.
“Getting these things in place and playing in a predictable way to each other – the first part of the plan is done, we have that, we have our standards at the club and now it’s about being predictable in the way we play from top to bottom at the whole club,” he said.
“Seniors, reserves and under-19s, we have one way – everyone’s on the same page.”
Meanwhile, the Waverley Blues will again compete in the Deakin University Eastern Region Women’s Competition, after playing in the grand final in the inaugural season last year.
Women’s coach Chris Goldstraw believes the loss to Bayswater in the grand final has made his side hungrier.
“We’ve had a bit of a change in personnel as well which is a good change to have – it’s revitalised the girls as well bringing different strengths and it’s nice to know that after one season we were fortunate to put a string of good games together and make it to the grand final,” he said.
“I think it’s made the girls hungry and walking away without getting the win, it’s nice to use that as a bit of motivation as well.”
In what is a new-look side with a number of women expected to debut this season, April Glare, Steph Loh and Grace De Cesare have impressed Goldstraw on the track this pre-season.
“These are people that have been experienced from last year and it’s been really impressive to see them take their game to the next level,” Goldstraw said.
“We’ve got a lot of first-timers as well, which is something that as a club we want to move towards as well.
“Winning is nice, but we want to try and build a sustainable women’s program that we can look back at for years to come.”
Goldstraw is expecting his side to bring a competitive edge each week.
“We’re happy to continue to improve and we’re happy with our game, so as long as we’re fighting out games and playing the best we can, that’ll be the goal and with new teams coming in, there’s a lot of unknown.”
The Waverley Blues open their season at home against Donvale on Saturday, April 7.