2019 U13 Div 4 Season Report

Coach: Dave Jennings / Team Manager: Dan Casey

The 2019 season was exciting right from the start with a huge influx of new players from other clubs. Word on the street was that SBMT was the place to be. We had become a destination club which is a massive credit to the boys and the parents that live and breathe a great culture every week.

The Blues had been knocked out in our first final in 2018 in Division 5 and yet based on the improvement we had seen and the potential we knew was still there, we requested a move up to Division 4. It was going to be a challenge but if you don’t test yourself you won’t develop as a player or as a team. We saw this year that each and every player had their moment. Each player made a contribution and because of this we were a much better team.

Our division only had six teams so we thought it was going to be difficult to miss finals however after the first five real games (not grading games) we had been easily accounted for in three of those games. In the other two games we had been made to work hard for four quarters to get the wins. The reality check had come early. We were probably a clear 4^th placed team. Better than the bottom two but nowhere near the top three.

It wasn’t long after this point in the season when Pete, Glenn and myself called a team meeting at training. Off the track we went, sat the boys down and put it all back in their court. We had seen some improvement after the big early losses but we wanted to make sure the boys knew that they were a lot closer to these top 3 teams than they probably realised. We had seen signs, passages of play and better training efforts that indicated we were headed in the right direction. We also had Intel from other clubs that the wheels were starting to fall off.

So back to those big early losses. East Brighton Vampires beat us 57 – 12 and it could have been even worse as they had 22 scoring shots to make up that total. In the second last round before finals we faced them again and went down by a mere 4 points. An outstanding performance that had the Vampires hoping they didn’t meet us in Week 1 of the finals.

Murrumbeena beat us 74 – 31 and were just too fast and too well drilled for us to cope with at the time. We faced them in the finals. The winner goes through to the GF, the loser is knocked out. We went down by 3 points. A phenomenal effort. We were storming home at the end of that game, we were storming home for weeks at the end of the season. It was a helluva ride.

Beena went to the GF the following week and themselves only lost by 4 points. So how close were we?? Who knows? A lot of what ifs about results. The facts are that our team went up a division from the previous year. We got taught a few lessons and then came together stronger and tighter than we ever had before. We played games to the last minute every week. We fought as hard as we could and we loved all of it.

To all of the players, be proud of yourselves, be proud of each other. You achieved amazing things and you did it because you worked hard for each other. It was a privilege to coach you and be part of it all. I will remember this season forever,

To my main men: Pete Svillar, Glenn McLean and Dan Casey. There are no words. Thank you. To Trish, Jimmy and Rungi your support each and every week has been a blessing. Praise be. To all parents of these amazing boys, thank you for your continued support and commitment to living as great examples to these lads. We can be proud of who we are on game day, not all clubs can say the same.

To my son Raf, thanks for all the hugs. This journey has been a gift to both of us. To Adrienne and Leah, your support is crucial for getting through a long cold season. I am extremely grateful.

Lastly and most importantly to my daughter Tierney. Being forced out of bed for an 8.30am game on a Sunday in July is quite ridiculous, I agree. So to you I promise, Raf and I will not complain even once during your one and only 4 hour long end of year dance concert. P.S. Tierney……one more year baby girl, one more year.

Dave Jennings