By Nick Creely
There’s a buzz surrounding the Berwick Football Club as it prepares to take the plunge into the incredibly strong Eastern Football League Premier Division in 2021.
The anticipation of a Round 1 clash against Noble Park on 17 April – another south east powerhouse – and the unknown of how they’ll stack up in the revered competition give plenty of reason for excitement.
Berwick coach Clint Evans said that the group is ready and raring to get stuck into the next stage of pre-season as the build-up over the next couple of months begins to form.
“We had really good numbers before Christmas, and we were probably averaging 50 or 60 a night which is great, and that includes the 19s as well,” he told the Gazette.
“There’s definitely been a real buzz around the club – with Covid, and missing the whole year, it’s been a bit surreal in a way to be honest.
“But now that we’re on the other side of Christmas, it’s not that far away, which is really exciting I suppose.
“The guys can’t wait to get out there, especially after a year off they just want to play – it’ll be an unknown, we just don’t know what other clubs will be like.
“When you’ve got Vermont, Noble Park, and so forth you don’t really know what they’ve got, but that’s the exciting part for the footy club, and that’s probably the same for them to us.
“The boys are jumping out of their skins to go.”
Evans said that with a dominant period in club history – which has included premierships in 2018, 2017 and 2015, as well as runner-up finishes in 2016 and 2019 – the Wickers are seeking to maximise its current list which features a glittering of ex-AFL, VFL and NAB League stars, but with one eye still focused on recruitment.
“Once we knew we were in Eastern, which was pretty much through Covid last year, our number one priority was to retain the list,” he said.
“We knew that if we were in Eastern, our group was going to be staying anyway.
So we’ve retained basically everyone, and got them on board straight away which is great – once we had the opportunity to look at what we have, we were then lucky in recruiting.
“What we wanted, we got.”
What the Wickers got was a strong swag of recruits, and returning players. All of them are expected to not only play senior footy, but have a significant impact.
Headlining the returning players is star on-baller and ex-skipper Bryce Rutherford, while forward Trent Thomas has also returned to Edwin Flack Reserve. Ex-Cranbourne pair Anthony Vella, and Anthony Burr who were both listed by Noble Park, are also two big additions for the Wickers.
Evans also pointed to another star in Luke Sheppard – who missed 2019 with a knee injury – as a virtual new recruit who will give the Wickers a big boost.
“With the salary cap and the unknown, it was challenging – we had 10 we pencilled in that we wanted to get, and we probably knew that we’d get three or four, but we’re really happy,” he said of the recruiting.
“We’ve tried to recruit what we need, and then we’ve got guys back and a few young guys in too.
“And we’re positive that we’ll have another couple of recruits to announce in the next couple of weeks too.”
A huge clash awaits the Wickers in their Eastern Football League debut against the Bulls, with a monster crowd (Covid permitted) set to pack into Edwin Flack Reserve.
Evans has no illusions about what awaits the club in what he believes is going to be one of the most exciting periods the club are in, but believes his list is primed to do some damage.
“We know we’re going into a really strong league,” he said.
“In that five years we’ve been dominant in Outer East and South East, the guys are now coming into that prime, and we’ve also got a new crop coming through who’ll be looking to take over that mantel.
“Sides are a lot different in this league, so there’s a lot of different things you’ve got to put into it – its exciting, but it’s an unknown for us.”
