By Marcus Uhe
Incoming Narre Warren coach Steven Kidd has a “blank canvas” on which to paint his own imprint on the football club, following the vacancies created by a number of senior players exiting Kalora Park.
The last two Shane Smith Medal winners in Jake Richardson and Tom Miller headline the list of departures, with Richardson heading overseas and Miller signing on with Wodonga Bulldogs in the Ovens and Murray Football League.
In addition, two-time premiership players Cameron Miller (Berwick Springs) and Lachlan Benson (South Belgrave) have chosen to ply their talents elsewhere, along with role players Ryan Patterson, Bailey Mayworm (both Hampton Park) and Harrison Brain (Nar Nar Goon).
2019 premiership player Ryan Quirk’s return to the Magpies never fully came to fruition, meanwhile, his season over before it started thanks to a preseason foot injury, before signing with Drouin Hawks for next year.
From the side that won the 2022 Outer East grand final against Woori Yallock on a chaotic day at Gembrook only 15 months ago, over half are now either wearing different colours or not playing football.
And worryingly for last season’s runner up, the external replacements have been few and far between.
Kidd, who replaces Shane Dwyer at the helm, said the club will look to build on the successes of the club’s lower grades, with both the Under 19s and Reserves sides winning their respective grand finals.
Shaking off initial alarm, the return to preseason training has provided a sense of confidence in the talent at his disposal.
“Early on it was concerning, but now that we’ve been back to training there’s guys there that have seen opportunities come up, or have seen that there’s going to be opportunities, they’re working hard at that,” he said.
“Whilst we would have liked to keep all those guys, we are pretty comfortable with where it’s at and the attitude of the guys that are still around.
“We’re concentrating on those guys that want to play seniors at Narre and want to work hard to get there.
“Throughout it all we always thought ‘we want to keep what we’ve got, and if we lose a few, we’ll concentrate on the young guys coming through.’ and we’ve stuck to that.”
Having quizzed departing players as to why they chose to fly the nest, Kidd is confident that their decisions are not a reflection on the club’s culture or that there are larger concerns at play.
He is looking to players who experienced senior football in 2023, in Tom Russell, Matt Butera, Logan Hiscock and Daniel Toner, to fill the void left by the senior figures.
“I’ve asked the questions and pretty much all of the answers that have come back are nothing to do with anything with the club,” Kidd said.
“All the guys have been great, they’ve all rung me and been very apologetic and said ‘I think it’s best for us’.
“Exactly why, I’m not sure, I can only go on what they said, and it certainly hasn’t been anything to do with the club or anything like that.
“We’re going to be a work in progress, there’s no doubt about it, but we’ve got a bit of a blank canvas to work with now.
“I’ve had a few moments where I’ve thought, ‘what’s going on here?’ but I think once you get to training and you see a few of the other guys step up, it fills me with a bit of confidence that we can work our way towards the top once again.”
