Geelong Advertiser | ST MARY’S has already begun planning for next season as it bids to rebound from a disappointing 2015 campaign.
Saints coach Bryce Vincent conceded his club, sitting 10th on the ladder with just two wins from 12 matches, had made a bold call to blood talent and start recruiting for next season.
“We’ve probably had an eye on next year for the last couple of weeks,” Vincent revealed.
“We’re trying to teach and it’s all about educating our younger guys.
“I think we’ve uncovered a few guys. Lewis McDonald is 21 years old and he played his first senior game (on Saturday) and played on Jake Carmody all day and did a good job.
“Damian Fazio and AJ Davie have been in and out of the reserves for two or three years and they have really taken a step forward this year and will be good senior players for years to come.
“We’re still trying to win as many games as we can for the rest of the year, but it is about getting games and more experience into the kids.”
A wretched run with injury has forced the Saints to turn to youth, with Vincent blooding a host of debutants this season.
In Saturday’s 48-point loss to Colac, St Mary’s were missing co-captains Josh Eddy and Matt Hebbard (knees), Adam McPhee (kidney), Flinn Chisholm (uni commitments), Kyle Devlin (gastro) and Dylan McMahon (corkie), among others.
Put just a handful of them back in the senior side and the Saints are a different commodity, Vincent said.
“We’re not super young but once one of our older guys goes out of the side, it’s really evident that we lack leadership,” Vincent said.
“The difference between us last year to this year is we had a lot of older, stronger bodies and it allowed our 18-19 year-old kids to play on the flanks and they didn’t have to be the main guys on the ball.
“This year we just haven’t had that experience or bigger bodies, so they’re having to do it the hard way.
“I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing for the long term. They’ve had it easy through the juniors being successful and now they’ve having to work for it.
“And they’re starting to understand the workrate required to play GFL.”
Despite crashing out of the finals race on the back of a strong 2014 season when they finished second after the home-and-away season, Vincent was convinced the Saints could make a rapid rise.
“The ladder does indicate (we need to recruit) but the real positive is we‘ve got a nucleus of 14 or 15 players that 18 to 22 that are all St Mary’s juniors and they’re playing regular senior footy,” he said.
“And they’re really good players but we just need a bit of top-end class. Our skills are ordinary at times and a good clean, half-back flanker would be great.
“Hopefully these kids will be around for the next six or seven years.”
