By Nick Creely
Amongst all of the unknowns of 2021, Upwey Tecoma wants to build and implement a sustainable brand to make them uncomfortable to come up against.
Internally, the focus is purely on what they can control, and what style of football they want to play.
With an opening round clash against Olinda Ferny Creek only just a matter of days away, the Tigers are building solidly under its gun playing coach Stuart Hill.
Hill – who crossed over at the end of 2019 from Norwood in the Eastern league after a decorated career which included selection in the club’s team of the decade – said that the group was looking forward to putting its best forward in a season with so many “unknowns” after sitting out all of last year.
“There’s a bit of nerves and anxiousness with a year and a half between games, but that’s not an Upwey footy club thing, it’s probably just local footy,” he said.
“A lot of teams are just happy to get the ball rolling.
“(But) there’s just so many unknowns, and with that it means you just worry about yourself and what system you’re trying to create.
“You don’t have the knowledge of other teams, and even if you see the names on paper, it feels like a lifetime ago for a lot of footy and non-footy reasons, so there’s a lot of unknown which you can worry about, but we’ll worry about developing a brand that’s consistent that’s on our small deck and on the bigger ones.
“I don’t too much about some of the other teams, and that’s no disrespect, so the focus is internally and building a good 30 guys that can play senior footy.
“We need to eyeball each other and know what we need to do to play our brand of footy.”
The Tigers – aside from adding Hill to its playing stocks who will inject an enormous amount of experience and class – are excited by what recruits Luke Fox from Braybrook and Emmanual Jakwot from Korumburra-Bena will add to the line-up, saying that the pair are “flying”, with Hill indicating that Jakwot would help form part of a pretty dangerous forward line including Daniel Waters.
But Hill nominated Josh Hannon, a key position forward/ruck and former junior who has crossed over from Boronia, where he won the 2018 premiership, as a player to watch in the 2021 season.
“Big Joshy is absolutely flying, so we’re expecting really big things from him,” he said.
“He’s around 22 now, and just getting confidence in his body – he’s a key forward and ruck, and will certainly give us an advantage, whether that’s first hands in the middle or down forward, he’s pretty hard to out mark.”
And how’s the coach’s body feeling ahead of a big season?
“Yeah, feeling fine,” he said.
“I’ve been fortunate that a lot of my injuries in the past have been little bone breaks that heal, and at this stage I’ve got healthy hamstrings and shoulders.
“You naturally slow down, but I like to think I’ve got a healthy older body.”
Aside from a healthy injection of recruits, the Tigers are also looking stable, with only a couple of players departing the club and its senior core signing on.
Hill said that one of the major focuses through the off-season was becoming an adaptable side, one which can be a force on its home deck up in the hills, but when venturing to the larger grounds in the south-east will be able to hold their own and stay competitive.
“Even in our practice matches, we’ve sought out bigger grounds like Narre Warren and Morwell, so a couple of reasonable size decks to give us a good understanding of the spaces on those grounds as well,” he said.
“You just need to work harder to cover the space – you can only do so much, but it’s certainly on the forefront of our minds.
“We know we have half the year at home and half the year away, so we want to still play a strong brand that makes other sides uncomfortable when they come here.
“But on the flipside, we need to adapt, and I think a lot of it will be about concentration and leading patterns and I’m confident in the fitness side of things within this group.”
