By Marcus Uhe
Wandin’s premiership coach Nick Adam conceded that his side is not playing at their best to begin their premiership defence, but isn’t concerned as they embark on the long journey of another Outer East Football Netball season.
The Bulldogs snuck home by six points in round one against Mt Evelyn and rectified a slow start against Monbulk to cruise home by 56 points in round two, 15.8 98 to 6.6 42.
Wandin trailed by four points at the first break kicking up the hill at Monbulk but conceded only three goals for the remainder of the afternoon as things began to click into gear.
Six goals to one in the second quarter changed the game, and the premiers never looked back, growing the margin at each interval.
It’s the defensive side of his side’s game that Adam is most pleased with in the early stages of the year, despite managing an injury to star defender Todd Garner.
“It was team defence on Saturday after quarter time,” Adam said.
“To be a good side at this level of football, you need to have 18 guys on the field buying in to what needs to happen when you turn the footy over.
“It wasn’t spectacular in the first quarter going down the hill, that sometimes does happen at Monbulk, but after quarter time, particularly in the third quarter when we were downhill again, we were really excited in some of the stuff that we saw.
“To be fair it (the defence) was the highlight against Mt Evelyn as well in a closer game, and Wandin is a significantly tougher ground to defend, but our back six has been exceptional over the first two weeks.”
Jordan Jaworski kicked five for the Bulldogs and Clint Johnson four, while midfielders Harrison van Duuren and Pat Bruzzese appear to have hit the ground running.
No side can afford to sit still and not innovate or tweak their game after winning a flag, and Wandin is no different, incorporating some new levels to their offense in 2024.
Progress is being made after two weeks, but it’s only the start of what’s to come.
“We haven’t been great ball-in-hand,” Adam said.
“We’re trying to do some stuff this year that’s not new to them, but we’ve definitely put a lot of work into offense over the summer and trying to work out what that looks like in the games is a work in progress, but we saw some progress on the weekend.
“It’s about maximising what your list – they’ve got some attributes that the offense is built around and it’s more the decisions rather than execution at the moment and making sure that there’s a connection across the 18 that are on the field at any one time.
“We’re not displeased with how we’re going – obviously you’d like to win by 100 points every week but we’re also mindful that, round one is the starting line.
“We’re quite happy to be a work in progress, particularly as we win games of footy.”
The new approach will be put under the microscope over the next fortnight, with heavyweight battles against Narre Warren and Woori Yallock in rounds three and four.
While the early season contests will yield plenty of data and discussion points, Adam is aware that they’re playing the long game.
“I think that there’s no doubt that… the emotion of winning a grand final as opposed to being the side that loses, or in our case, doesn’t get there in 2022, shifts what your expectations are.
“We want to win it again and obviously produced some really good football in the last month of last year, and probably, comparison is the thief of joy at the moment for us.
“If you look at AFL level, which is very rare that you can compare AFL to local, but you look at the sides that have come off deep September stuff, they’re not playing as well as they were in the last four weeks.
“But you probably shouldn’t expect to, and you might be a little bit worried if you were, to be honest, because we want to be playing our best football at the back end of the year and it looks like it’s going to be a really even competition this season.”
