Openers the key for Swans

By Marc McGowan
CASEY-SOUTH Melbourne’s inaugural year at Casey Fields will be remembered as memorable for its relocation from Lakeside Oval, but memorable playing success may be a few years away yet.
It brought up the rear in the Neil Buszard Group in two-day competition, while achieving slightly better success in one-day mode where it finished third last.
The biggest early-season problem came in the form of the Swans’ opening combination, which began with Robbie Elston and Stephen Nicholls.
Captain-coach Roger Sillence stuck by them for the first month, but the opening slots became a revolving door as Michael Hansen, Adam Thornton, Joel Leaver, Marc Ferne, Brett Watkins, Reuben Wakefield, Jye Sampson and even Sillence himself took their turn.
Only reliable servant Hansen was able to establish himself at the top of the order in his return to the club after spending a few seasons playing Sydney grade cricket, and solving this issue should be of prime importance over the summer.
The overall batting performance was extremely disappointing as only all-rounder Craig Entwistle, Hansen and Sillence managed averages over 30.
There was little repetition in the batting order and only grassroots recruit Lucas van Raay can be added to the aforementioned trio in feeling relatively satisfied with his efforts with the willow.
The loss of gun all-rounders David Newman (Dandenong) and Steven Spoljaric (Hawthorn-Monash University) hurt badly, and their quality was sorely missed.
“It would have been ideal to have them,” Sillence said. “Getting Entwistle and van Raay, if you’d recruited those guys and kept those other guys, we would have had a strong side.
“That’s the sort of player we need to get. It is the quality players we are missing, but we did recruit well last year.”
The bowling was a different story.
With a pair of classy opening bowlers in Matthew Hawking and Troy Ryan, a host of impressive all-rounders (Sillence, van Raay and Entwistle) and the emergence of Victorian under-17 left-arm orthodox spinner Clive Rose, this department was well covered.
Former Merinda Park right-armer Lukas Hoogenboom picked up the slack from Ryan when the latter went down with a season-ending Achilles injury, and he performed admirably.
Casey-South Melbourne will need his development to continue with Ryan not expected to return to the club next season.
Sillence, too, is unlikely to return, despite being offered a contract by the club for 2007-08.
Behind closed doors, he admitted that he did not want the responsibilities that came with being captain or coach and he just wanted to “rock up”.
The Swans have received five expressions of interest for the head coaching position and will make an announcement next month, while also actively pursuing other players to fill Sillence’s spot.
With the exit of Ryan and Sillence, the club’s bowling stocks will require replenishing and greater depth will be paramount if it is to improve next season.
Along with Entwistle’s well-publicised feats with the bat, another big success story was behind the stumps with Elston.
The diminutive right-hander had a slow start with the bat, but finished the season well and snared the club’s wicketkeeping record.
Elston completed the year with 44 dismissals – 38 catches and six stumpings – to easily surpass Phil Kingston’s previous mark of 39 set in 1991-92.
Van Raay was superb in his ascension to Victorian Premier Cricket ranks and is only going to get better with more exposure to turf wickets, while Rose is a special talent and no doubt has senior state representation in his future.
Sillence was a force with both bat and ball, but did not bring his all-round act often enough, as his best form with the former came before Christmas and his surge with the leather came in the new year.
“We have a relatively youngish side and I’ve just been trying to get the message across each game that you need to try to learn something,” he said.
“Sometimes, you need to make some mistakes to learn. The future is bright, but I still think we could do with some more quality players at the club in the first team.”
That process has already begun with 11 of the best young talents in the area attending Casey-South Melbourne’s Master Class Coaching Forum this month.
The club is also holding a strategic planning session tonight (Thursday), as it looks ahead to 2007-08.
The Swans will break even on the financial side of things, which is a tremendous achievement in its introduction to Cranbourne East, but the biggest focus must be on more victories on the field.