Eagles set to excite

Beaconsfield coach Leigh McQuillen hopes the Eagles will excite in 2019. 180053 Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS

By Nick Creely

With another pre-season under their belt, Beaconsfield coach Leigh McQuillen believes the Eagles’ brand will stack up in the new AFL Outer East Premier Division.

The Eagles will pull on the colours on 13 April for their Round 1 clash against Cranbourne, the very side that bested them in the semi-final at Toomuc Reserve last year. While it hurts, McQuillen is adamant that the lessons learnt in the tough 23-point loss will hold them in good stead.

“You have to move on,” he explained.

“We were all disappointed. We had beaten Cranbourne twice earlier in the year and had our tails up going into the game but we were not only out played but I felt I was outcoached on the day.

“Some tactical moves that they made, I hadn’t adjusted to early enough. I’m honest and put my hand up when I feel I haven’t coached the best game and that was one I stewed on but its history now and we look forward to the challenge of Cranbourne again in Round 1.

“(It) wasn’t a happy hunting ground Pakenham for us in season 2018. We all learn from it and make sure history doesn’t repeat itself.”

Injury forced McQuillen’s hand at several times in 2018, with the Eagles showing great signs despite having to play a younger team at various stages, but believes that with the return of some key players such as Lachie Modica, Scott Meyer and Michael Misso they will be able to generate more consistency.

But the result of having plenty of senior players on the sidelines has meant that the Eagles have been able to pump plenty of games into their youth, something that McQuillen believes could be the catalyst for a rise up the ladder.

“Using 43 players in the seniors in 2018 can only enhance our 2019 prospects,” he said.

“It’s not an excuse for losses. Collingwood displayed that last year falling narrowly short of a flag with a ton of players missing.”

With a fit and firing list at his disposal, McQuillen said that pre-season has been vital in adjusting several parts of the Eagles’ game, including tinkering to cater to the new rules.

“We delayed our start to the pre-season and gave the whole list longer to enjoy their time off and freshen them up,” he said.

“Having the Under 19s winning the flag again and knowing a huge amount of our list comes from this team the whole list has benefited from the longer break.

“We’ve spent a lot of time this pre-season on adjusting the way we play.

“The coaching team watched a lot of our games again and we identified key areas we need to change so we’ve set about doing this in a compartmental way.

“This involves breaking the game plan down into stages and ‘teaching’ the Beacy brand to the list from Under 18s up.

“We’re one club at Beaconsfield and involve all four teams as well as have sessions with our netball club.

“We have also played a lot of AFLX, one intra-club thus far and Friday night just gone we managed a good win against Mornington at Holm Park with an extremely young side resting a lot of more experienced players.”

While on the Under 19s, McQuillen said one of the priorities was to retain the majority of those players in the all-conquering side and transition them into the senior squad. He believes they have “exceptional talent”.

“It’s been very pleasing. We focused heavily from the outset on retaining our under 19s from the premiership side,” he said.

“Clubs were chasing them heavily so we were extremely happy with their commitment to the club and signed them all away for the season.

“When you look at the past three under 19 Beacy sides who have played in grand finals we now have some of these players established in our senior 22, some close to establishing and some nearly breaking into the side. Modica, Bromley, B.Homfray, Ty.Stokoe, O’Sullivan, Hellliyer, McMillan, Verbi, Guley, Plumridge, Bettio, Boland, Dockerty, D.Smith, M.Smith, Entwistle, Currie, Merrick, the Patullo twins (Jacob and Jessie) and more recently Hamilton, Paul, Brough, Wilson, M.Johnson, Scott and a young Sterling played seniors Friday night at 16.

“I could go on all night about the exceptional talent listed above. The challenge facing us coaches is not only selecting our best 22 for Round 1 but to continue developing each and every one of these guys individually.

“It’s exciting for the club that we’ve developed from within and made signing all these players listed above our number one priority.

“Troy Robinson, Shane Boland and I spent a lot of time as soon as our 2018 season was over sitting in player exit and contract meetings signing these guys. Can be busier than the main season.”

While the Eagles have lost some class in the likes of Bailey Morrish, Peter Alier, Josh Dodsworth, Nathan Langley and some depth players, McQuillen said the club has enjoyed a strong off-season from a recruitment sense. They will also welcome back Michael Misso, Nick McPherson, Jacob Patullo, Riley Boland, Jamie Plumridge, Jake Cameron and Dan Helliyer into the fold.

“Most of our signings are VFL listed so will be a week to week prospect,” he said.

“We’ve signed Jack Griffiths who is on Casey’s VFL list. Jacks been playing over in the WAFL and will fit in well with his size, experience, leadership and ability to play multiple positions.

“Jack Harmes who is also at Casey has signed. We look forward to seeing Jack in Beacy colours adding to our midfield depth.

“Riley Verby has been listed at North Melbourne VFL and has again signed on with us and we now have Sean Dwyer full time after coming off Casey’s VFL list.

“Boadie Motton (Gippsland Power) currently in Box Hill VFL has also agreed to sign. Boadie is a talented midfielder who featured regularly in the Power’s best players last season at TAC level.

“James Munro has signed on again from Casey after a stellar season in their big 2018 campaign as well as his three exceptional games with Beacy in 2018. Jimmy is a very much liked player and character at Beacy.

“More recently Brendan Whitecross has agreed to sign local with us. After a solid AFL career, he guided Box Hill to their 2018 VFL Premiership. Brendan is now heavily involved with the North Melbourne AFL Team as a development coach and their VFL Team as a player.

“We plan to draw a lot from his experience and welcome him to the club to join wife Kelly who coaches our netball Club. Brendan’s focus is on North Melbourne but we look forward to seeing him in our colours during the year where possible and down at the club when not with North.”

With the season drawing closer by the day, McQuillen said to expect a more experienced Beaconsfield side, and one that plays with plenty of attacking flair.

“The average age of our side for the majority of 2018 hovered around 21 and 22,” he said.

“In 2019 it’ll be closer to the 23-24 mark which will hold us in good stead. I’ve coached the majority of this list now for three years and I’m seeing huge maturity in it.

“The way they train, gel and trust each other as well as back the Beacy brand has been exceptional to watch.

“We’re going to be a lot more attacking. We had to make adjustments to the areas of the ground we felt we turned the ball over the most.

“We bypass these now and become very predictable to our team mates. Everyone knows where the balls going to end up while we have it from all parts of the ground so numbers and work-rate become vital.

“Defensively we didn’t tackle well in 2018 so a lot of time has been placed into this area and it showed on Friday night with our ‘completed tackle count’.

“Structurally we’ve had to adapt our defence to suit the new AFL rules and also some of our set plays as the rules have hindered them a little.

“Having said that we believe since training the rule changes that we’ve been able to tactically enhance a lot of our game.

“Tactics are as only as good as you can master them, so we spend allocated time of each phase of our game plan and then you hope it’s enough come game time. We plan to spend a lot of April practicing ‘match scenarios’ so we’ve been there before in simulation when they arise.”

With the prospect of playing new teams such as Olinda Ferny Creek, Healesville, Upwey Tecoma, Wandi and Woori Yallock, as well as traditional rivals Narre Warren, Cranbourne and Berwick, McQuillen said the club was excited to make a statement in the new competition, but like other clubs in the region, don’t know what to really expect.

“We speak a lot about the two competitions and the different brands that’ll go head to head,” he said.

“We discuss how our brand stacks up and where our keys to success will come from. It’s hard to say how good it’s going to be but I’ve coached in that league some time back so I have a good gauge on what to expect.

“I think it will be a lot closer than what we had in 2018. There are some talented teams in the old YVMDFL and their top five was so close in terms of wins so it makes for a great season.

“Coming off finals you expect finals so we won’t be shying away from setting the bar high.

“We have shown we can mix it with the best for long periods and plan to go a step further in 2019.

“Berwick’s an exceptionally good side and I believe still the yard stick in the new competition so we set our standards towards beating them but narrow down to the fact we have a big challenge in Cranbourne on 13 April followed by Narre and Wandin before even considering a shot at the 2018 SEFNL premiers.

“It’s a solid but exciting draw we have in front of us in the first month of the season, and one we look forward to.”