Yarra Valley Water InFocus 2026 | Kilsyth

By Jared Beanland.

After making the 2023 Division 4 Grand Final and losing out to Surrey Park, Kilsyth have been somewhat in the woods. They did manage finals appearances in the two seasons since, however lost in the first week both times, and have had to go back to the drawing board.

Damien Murray was called in to coach the club at the start of last year, and has set about changing the way Kilsyth as a club handles their footy. Not willing to take fourth division for granted, his focus was on changing the standards both on and off the field.

“When I arrived there, just seeing the standards, they weren’t ready to go up. Too many things weren’t setup from a playing point of view, list-wise and all that. We had to take a little bit of a step back last year, with that being said we started the year well until we got injuries. But we went 2 and 7 in the last 9 games, so effectively after the half-way point we were one of the worst sides going around. Which was good in a way because it proved what I was trying to say when I took over the job."

"I think in fourth division you always had easy wins, so it was easy to make finals in those years, whereas now it’s so even. It’s a completely different division now compared to what it was in those years. So the boys have had to realise that. So to finish the year the way we did they actually realised ‘oh this bloke was right’. So this preseason has been much better. Standards have been better, work rate has been better, the buy in has been better. These guys were just training Tuesday, Thursday, rocking up Saturday, and not even thinking or doing anything during the week to do their football. Now they’re going for runs, and actually doing stuff like recovery.”

“The October period to now has been two to three times better than October to now last year, when I first took over.”

After a year of inconsistency, Murray identified the areas which needed to be improved, such as the potency of Kilsyth’s attack. The practice match against Yarra Glen was the perfect place to understand how far the team has come with new leadership.

“It’s no secret to anyone that we were very well setup defensively last year, but offensively we weren’t putting the scores on the board to scare anyone. So effectively anyone who played us was in the game because we weren’t scoring heavily. So scoring has been a real focus for us. In the practise match we had 26 scoring shots which was really positive for us to see that kind of stuff paying off and working. And like most clubs there’s been a big focus on conditioning, a big focus on standards, and a big focus on the gameplan, structures and the gamestyle that you think is going to hold up for nine months.”

With ex-Balwyn power forward Jeff Gobbels joining toward the end of last year, Justin Van Unen returning to the club, and former Eltham & Balwyn journeyman Jackson Weatherald there is plenty of on field leadership being added to the young team.

Murray’s mission statement for himself and the other older heads is to elevate the younger players, as opposed to taking the spotlight themselves. The future of the club, he says, is in the hands of homegrown talent, and the additions are there to assist in their development.

“The important pieces are more your homegrown Kilsyth talent. Of course you’ve got Justin, Jeff, Weatherald, myself, we all qualify for veterans footy. So it’s not really up to us to drive the bus. We’re just there to help out. It’s up to the younger talent, the 23 year olds, and obviously we’ve got the under 19s coming through from last year as well. It’s up to more of the Kilsyth talent, the Declan and Spencer Lambs, Jacob Moschetti, Drew Sells, Bailey Rae, it’s up to a lot of that homegrown talent,"

"The names from over the past few years, and the ones who played in that grand final, it’s up to that group to take it to the next level. It’s good to have someone like Justin back, but at 36 it’s not on him to carry, just like it’s not on any one player to carry the team.”

“I think everything has to be interchangeable these days. Because as we saw last year the gameplan was so heavily dependent on the same players, like a Brandon Droessler down back setting up everyone. And then he does his ACL in round 4. And then all of a sudden the five other backs aren’t setting up properly because they’re not being told what to do. So the leadership aspect of it is huge for us, hence why we got four or five guys over the age of 33 in the door. But it’s up to the young kids to take more responsibility with that kind of stuff, rather than just putting their boots on at 2pm on a Saturday and going out and playing a game, they’ve got to take ownership of more of that type of stuff.”

The Kilsyth under 19s enjoyed a successful year in 2025, finishing second on the ladder, and defeating Bulleen-Templestowe in the grand final. The junior ranks of Kilsyth are going from strength to strength, and this has given rise to several young players at senior level.

“It’ll be tough, but there’ll be some opportunities for the under 19s at certain times during the year. Obviously Josh Jackson, Will Clemow, Brendan Camden, Leo Henderson played last year. But then we’ve also got an exciting batch of under 17s, they’ve got their highest ranked junior team coming through. So there are four or five kids from there – none of them made the Eastern Ranges, but are training with them, so they’ve been training with the senior side, and playing in practise matches. So the depth is much better this year.”

Murray has made it his goal to make it clear to the players exactly what is expected of them to break into the senior line-up at Kilsyth. His focus on standards has demanded a shift of mentality from the playing squad, and a shift in what it means to run out in the squad of 22.

“For a lot of players it’s been a right to play senior footy, because we haven’t had the depth. It needs to be a privilege to play senior footy again, not a right. And it’s been a right for some of these kids coming out of senior footy. Because it has been a weaker division four competitive, so any young kid with a bit of talent, they come in and play for Kilsyth seniors. So that was one of the big issues I saw when I walked in the door, it was just a right for some of these kids to play, it was a right for someone to not train and just turn up and play seniors. I’ve never seen that before. It’s always been a real honour and a privilege to play senior football, not a right. You have to have privilege, and a bit of pride in the jumper, not just turn up go ‘how good’s this’, it doesn’t work like that.”

“Last year we had blokes trying to create a super-twos team. So when we bottomed out last year we had guys in the twos who didn’t want to play seniors. So all of a sudden both teams were sending out half-cooked teams. Because I’m taking the 6^th, 7^th, 8^th, 9^th, 10^th best players out of their team, and they’ve still got their top-end talent in the reserves, but they’re missing their middle chunk. So that’s why both teams had such poor finishes. If you look at the reserves team their run home wasn’t much better than ours."

"So it was a really good eye-opener for everyone at the footy club to say ‘okay this isn’t how to operate a senior football club’. So this year with the under 19s coming up, and adding in the recruits, and we only lost a couple of boys, everyone sees the depth. And you can’t not be training and doing the work, because they’re all well aware that it’s on for selection. And it will probably take me time to get the balance of the best 22 right.”

Kilsyth have started their year in successful fashion, with a 10 point victory over the re-instated Doncaster side. Despite inaccuracy, a difference in 10 scoring shots would have been pleasing for Murray, given what the on field aims were in preseason, and validates some of the work done in the preasons.

The Cougars will look to follow up the victory with a second round clash against Bulleen-Templestowe at Pinks Reserve.

With just seven wins from the past two years, the Kilsyth women’s team is set to be led by a fresh face in season 2026. Shilette Baker comes across from Montrose – a fellow Divison 2 side with Kilsyth – and brings with her plenty of experience.

Despite a recent lack of on field success, the women’s team at Kilsyth is in good health, and good hands, as Baker explains. The Cougars are one of a number of clubs growing their women’s list to such a point that they can field a development side in Division 5.

“It was a bit of a surprise moving from Montrose, obviously they wanted to go in a different direction moving forward, so it left me up in the air a little bit to know what to do. I put the feelers out there, and Kilsyth found out that I was no longer coaching, so asked for an interview. And what Simon (Caldwell), and Marco (Ivanovic) had said to me just resonated in the way that they support their women’s and girl’s programs, and where they want to get to with development, and wanted to be able to give the women a different direction. And they had heard some good things about the program I was running up at Montrose.”

“They see equality as a big thing, and they put their money where their mouth is. They support the women by making sure we get equal opportunities on training nights, they’re big on making sure that we’ve got all the apparel, and fairness with ground allocation, game times, all that sort of stuff. They’re coming to me with things about what they want to provide the women, so to me that resonates that it comes from the top down. And they’ve got such a wonderful group of women who just want to learn, and are grateful for the opportunities when people invest their time into them.”

The integration of a women’s team requires investment from the top down, and what Baker has seen on every level has appealed to her about the club, and the way they go about the women’s program.

Much like the male counterparts, the Kilsyth women juniors program is in good health ahead of 2026.

“The first thing I talked to them about was whether or not they had women’s apparel, and they jumped straight on board. They’d got all the women’s shorts already, but one of the things I really did want to jump into was a reversible jumpers, due to all the clashes we have. So they’ve invested their spend in the women’s program, because they can see not only do I coach, I put my hand up to help with the women’s coordinator role because I want to get a feel from the club, the committee side of things. Everything I’m coming across they’re so supportive. They want to push their women’s program to be one of the places to be. And pushing for that second side – I came in and they were just over that 25 mark, and they believe that if they can get some interest in the club, do a bit of recruiting that we could get to that second team. We’ve been able to push, and I know that we’ll need a little bit of help from the under 18s, but being able to transition your junior program is a wonderful position to be in. And Kilsyth now have their 18s back because they missed that age group last year. So we’re really excited about the junior program, and the young women who are coming in now.”

Player retention is often a challenge that many women’s teams face, yet this has not been an issue with Kilsyth.

Many of the young talent coming through have committed to stay on with Kilsyth, despite other options being available, and since there is now continuity for women playing through juniors, this young talent already has plenty of experience under their belts.

“I think we’ve got about 60 to 70% retention from last year, which does help to build to that two teams. And it’s phenomenal to think that some of these young girls who are just coming into senior football have got 100+ games under their belt now. When I started doing senior women up at Montrose we were lucky to have 50 games under their belt before they hit the senior team. There was a thing between Kilsyth and Mt. Evelyn to share players while we didn’t have under 18s, so to see some of those girls come back and commit to Kilsyth has been really exciting. Sienna O’Toole has just come back from there to play seniors, then you’ve got Maya George, Sarah Ivanovic, all that young talent. And then we’ve still got Emily Van Veen who’s been at the club since the start of the women’s team. To have those girls continue to commit year after year, the club should be really proud of the retention that they’ve got.”

Having coached Montrose, Baker was able to observe Kilsyth from the sidelines when the Demons got the opportunity to play against them. She had already developed a certain admiration for the team, and the way they went about their footy before landing the position at Pinks Reserve.

“They were pretty good at supporting each other, regardless of what the score was. I was pretty impressed that they just kept fighting to the end, they never gave up. So that’s a fantastic trait that I really want to continue from what I was doing at Montrose, just playing the four quarters. I think having a coaching panel that invests their time on and off the field is going to lift this group of women. Their skill base is fantastic, their work ethic is fantastic, so it’s just giving them a bit of belief in themselves that they can do a bit more, and strive for a bit more this year. And having the two teams gives us a bit more depth, and gives an opportunity for anyone who’s come to football from brand new – and we do have quite a few – to develop at their own pace, rather than the fast pace of division two.”

Coming along to Kislyth with Baker is her long-term coaching staff, made up of Brock Baker (Shilette’s brother), Kris Flep (Shilette’s partner), and Roi Boutsikakis. She explains how close they are as a coaching team, and how Kilsyth has landed a well-rounded package deal by signing them all on as coaches.

“Brock, and Kris, and Roi who were all with me at Montrose, they’ve been fantastic. They’ve stepped up, and I think this is what the Kilsyth women are loving, they’ve got three other people who are heavily invest in the program, and heavily invested in them. We’ve all got our different opinions, our different strengths and weaknesses, so all of us together have really excited the women about what’s to come. I also used to play football a long time ago with Roi, so we know each other in and out, and I think that’s what makes us a great team together.”

“And then there’s Matty Webb has stepped up – he’s from Kilsyth, and he’s been around the women’s program – he’s going to take on the development team, and he’s been wonderful. He’s going to be fantastic for that group.”

“I’ve been really impressed with the club, the culture, and everything. I’m really excited about this year. Small steps, but if we want to start on that development path, I think we can do some really good things.”

Kilsyth have already opened up their season, with a 22 point defeat at the hands of Rowville. They look to turn that result around in the away clash against Baker’s former team, Montrose.

Yet to play their first game as a development side, Kilsyth are looking forward to opening that account against Nunawading this coming weekend at Pinks Reserve.