By David Nagel
With his 2022 signature now locked away – senior coach Peter Dunlop hopes it’s a case of ‘history repeating itself’ as he looks to build the next wave of success at the Dalyston Football Netball Club.
The first-year coach, unanimously reappointed by the club committee recently, played a key role in the Magpies’ rise from the cellar-dwellers of the competition to eventual premiers in the club’s former home in the Alberton league.
Dunlop was a Melbourne-based senior player for Boronia in the Eastern Football League in 2005 before a family connection to Dalyston lured him to the club.
However, what was expected to be a temporary stay turned into a deep affection that still burns strong today.
“My uncle was vice-president of Dalyston and heavily involved at the club, and he rang me at the end of 2005 and asked if I’d be interested in coming down,” the now 37-year-old said.
“My dad (Ross) played 150 senior games with Dalyston so I wanted to play there, so I thought I’d go down for a year, show my face, and then go back to what I was doing.
“We were terrible in 2006.
“We lost by seven points to the second-bottom team and our next closest loss was by 20 goals. We were horrific on-field, we had a percentage of 15, but I loved the people and the atmosphere, the country feel, it was just a great place to be around.
“I had plans of playing cricket in England that year but loved Dalyston so much I ended up staying.”
Dunlop, who lived in the Ferntree Gully area at the time, was well connected and lured some of his mates to the club. That played a part in the Magpies rising steadily up the ladder, before a breakthrough 2012 saw the club finish runner up to Kilcunda-Bass.
On the back of the signing of former Carlton star Brad Fisher, the Magpies would finish second on the ladder in 2013 and ’14, before remaining undefeated and demolishing Fish Creek by 82 points in the 2015 Alberton decider.
Dunlop played in the 2012 grand final loss, but retired and therefore missed the 2015 success.
The Magpies remained competitive in 2016, ’17, but the degeneration of a naturally ageing list saw the Magpies return to the lower reaches of the ladder in ’18 and ’19.
Dunlop, who had remained heavily involved in a recruiting capacity, decided the time was right to put his hand up for the top job.
“I was trying to sell the club to recruits without being involved, which caused some awkward moments, and the club was looking for a coach through Covid so I decided to put my hand up and have a go,” he said.
Fisher agreed to help him out when available, while former Boronia mentor Craig McKenzie joined the club as Director of Coaching.
Dunlop said that despite the club’s ladder position – in 11th place with one win and six losses – the Magpies were building a sustainable model, both on and off the field, that would carry them proudly into the future.
“Craig (McKenzie) has been huge for me, being a first-year coach, he’s allowed me to make mistakes and do things my way, but has jumped in when he’s need to do,” Dunlop said.
“Our list wasn’t in great shape so we had to recruit 20 guys to fill out the club this year, and that’s still a work in progress.
“We were never going to be able to do it all in one hit, but I think we’re on the right path and probably need another four or five quality players to start to make inroads.
“I just want the players to understand that what we are building is sustainable, and I think if we can get a decent run with keeping our guys on the park, and get some continuity, we can shock a few teams.
“I think at our best we will really surprise teams with the quality of players and the standard of football that we play.
“We’re not trying to create miracles and win our last nine games and play finals, we’re realistic about our position, but I think we’re a lot better than what the ladder might indicate right now.”
Dunlop said the Magpies were originally hoping to secure between five to eight wins this year, and can almost recount, blow by blow, the season as it has happened so far.
“Bunyip, round one, they had recruited well, a huge test, and we were right in that game and let ourselves down in a 15-minute patch and got done by 30 points,” Dunlop recalled.
“Against Kilcunda-Bass, if it wasn’t for two bursts from Campbell Brown, we probably win that game, and then we let Kooweerup get in front by 30 points early and we hit the front with 90 seconds to go and lose.
“There have been a couple of missed chances and we could probably be three and four and going along alright.
“This mini-break has not been ideal in many ways, but it’s given a few of our top-end guys some time to heal. It will be good to see what we’ve actually got and how things might look instead of plugging holes all day.
“It will be rather exciting to finally see what we’ve got in the tool shed.”
At full strength the Magpies have some talent. Mick Marotta played for Collingwood VFL last year, and will be one of the major beneficiaries of the current break in play, while skipper Blake Carew, Brendan Walsh, Clay Tait, Brad Monson and Matt Howell would slot comfortably into most teams in the competition.
Matt Rosendale, Dean Wylie and Chris Samargis are premiership players with vast experience, while youngsters like Louis Armstrong, Luke Gheller, Jarvis Kilgour and Fraser West are developing nicely and have earned their senior outings on merit this year.
Dunlop, who describes himself as a lairy half forward who loved to kick goals and remind his opponent of the fact, said there were a number of players who had gone above and beyond this year.
“Harry Wright has settled in nicely at full back and has done a great job on the opposition’s number-one forward, and Ethan Ford is a new player to the club who has been phenomenal with his leadership and great for the younger players,” Dunlop said.
“We’re disappointed to look where we sit on the ladder, but we’re building something sustainable and there’s a really good feel at the club.”
With his 2022 signature locked away – Dunlop has his sights set on building the next wave of success at the Dalyston Football Netball Club.
