Magpies ready to embrace the return

Belgrave has recruited sharply ahead of the 2021 Division 1 season. 195970 Picture: ROB CAREW

By Nick Creely

If there was to be anything that Belgrave coach Nathan Johns took away from the hardships endured by all in 2020 it’s to never take sport and its powerful place in the community for granted again.

Many are still healing, but with the return of the AFL Outer East competition just a matter of days away, just that mere ability to walk through the turnstiles, enjoy a cold beer, and watch local sport will help fill that gaping hole and will go a long way to the community’s recovery.

Johns said it’s been the main message to his group ahead of the season opener against Berwick Springs on Saturday 17 April.

“It’s good for everyone to be back, it’s good for local communities to have sport, and for them to follow what they have,” he told the Gazette.

“What I’ve tried to get across to the players and the group is to not take footy for granted as it got taken away, and embrace it.

“Regardless of what issues you’ve got going on at home, work, or whatever it may be, to have that outlet gives you a reason to just forget about it for that two hours on a Tuesday and Thursday, and three hours on a Saturday.

“Definitely taking that away from people had an impact for sure in different ways, so we’ll really make the most of being back.

“From a well being point of view its so important being back, and in regard to footy being back, it’s exciting, it’s been a long 18 months.

“From the club’s point of view, we can’t wait, we’re all really excited.”

The Magpies face senior football club newcomers Berwick Springs this Saturday, and the pressure for spots is enormous as the season draws closer by the day.

In a fruitful off-season, after a seventh-placed finish in 2019, Johns’ group has recruited sharply, adding Robbie Matthews (Emerald) back to the club, Reece Piper (Berwick), James Cross (Hampton Park), Ricky Bevan (Whitehorse Pioneers), Guy Chuol (Korumburra-Bena), Harrison Paul (Nar Nar Goon), Jarrod O’Neill (Doveton Eagles), Blair Smith (Garfield), Tahj Kensley (returning) and Nathan Dawson (St Kilda City) to a group brimming with stability.

With only a couple of departures, and with the re-signing of stars such as Josh Richmond (37 goals in 2019) and best and fairest winner Elliott Avis, the Magpies are spoilt for choice.

“To go anywhere in any grade of football, regardless of the standard, to have success and sustainability you need to have a fight for spots, and that’s what I’m particularly trying to create,” Johns said.

“We’ve got probably 29 blokes fighting for 22 spots, so that gives the twos seven blokes knocking on that door – Belgrave haven’t had that for a very long time, probably even when they went through their successful years in 2017 and so forth.

“We had to get better, and I knew coming to the club three years ago, they were too good for Division 2, and not good enough for Division 1 so they needed to change how they went about things, and stand for something.

“It’s a hard job being a coach as it is, but I want the players to make it harder by making it hard for me to pick a side, week in, week out.”

Johns said that after an incredibly strong pre-season, his group was primed to really give Division 1 a shake.

“We’ve had a good prep, we’re really excited to get stuck in for what we’re about to endure,” he said.

“There’s no ceiling on what we can achieve as a club, we’ve given ourselves the best opportunity, and preparation to set ourselves up for a big year.

“It’s now just about conditioning and being ready for Berwick Springs”.

He hopes that a major part of the improvement will come from a strong understanding of the Belgrave brand they want to establish.

“We were a long way back when I got to the club which was fine, it was all about getting an understanding of what was required to play an elite system, and be a systematic side,” he said.

“We’ve got that understanding, and getting better in each session in regard to that.

“We’re constantly challenging one another, from player to player, coach to player, coach to board and so on to raise that bar.

“We needed to find our identity, and we now know what we play for, what we stand for.”

Johns pointed to the return of juniors to the club, in particular Tahj Kensley as an important part of the way the club wants to move forward.

“Tahj is an old Belgrave junior who focused on cricket for a while, and now wants to come back to Belgrave where he first started,” he said.

“That in itself is exciting for the Belgrave footy club, having a local junior wanting to come back and play – to potentially get more back through Tahj is really, really good.”

The Magpies’ clash with Berwick Springs will kick off at 2pm on Saturday, 17 April.