Upbeat on one-win season

Australian under-19 representative Clive Rose was pivotal with both bat and ball for Casey-South Melbourne this season. 27194 Picture: Stewart Chambers

By Marc McGowan
IT SPEAKS volumes about where Casey-South Melbourne is coming from that coach Mark Ridgway can label the club’s one-win season ‘satisfying’.
The Swans entered the final day of the summer with the possibility of being the first Premier Cricket side in a decade not to record a point for the entire year.
Even for Casey-South Melbourne, which has been mired in the depths of Premier Cricket for several years, that represented an underwhelming season.
The Swans finally saluted against Dandenong in the last round to avoid earning the unwanted place in history.
And hidden beneath the repeated failures was a distinct improvement in competitiveness.
Ridgway said last week that his first XI squad ‘could’ have won seven matches this summer.
That was extremely optimistic of him, but Casey-South Melbourne nevertheless had plenty of chances both early and late in the season to improve its position.
Ridgway arrived with plenty of tough talk and fanfare in April, but the club endured a tumultuous off-season due to the dragged-out Lukas Hoogenboom affair.
The former Tasmanian state cricketer recruited the likes of Damien Wright, Jayde Herrick, Ash Perera and Tom Hussey, but Hoogenboom’s desperation to leave Casey Fields overshadowed their signings.
Swans officials finally cleared Hoogenboom to bitter rival Hawthorn-Monash University in October – after the season had started – after the situation looked headed for the Supreme Court.
The saga all began after former Casey-South Melbourne president Graham Yallop became Monash University’s director of cricket in May.
The tug-of-war appeared to take its toll on the Swans in the opening round when they suffered a humiliating nine-wicket drubbing at the hands of Geelong.
Things rarely got better for Casey-South Melbourne as it either blew winning opportunities or was blown-out before Christmas.
There were a couple of rays of sunshine before the mid-season break, including back-to-back centuries to Wright that included a match-saving partnership against Essendon with the tempestuous Tim Dale.
Several players came and went, including the Wakefield twins, Reuben and Max, Ben Stallworthy, Rhys Holdsworth and Ben Durrant.
But their exits preceded a much-improved Swans line-up in the new year.
Casey-South Melbourne threatened finalists Carlton and St Kilda and ended Dandenong’s finals chances in an impressive finish to the summer.
It was these final weeks of the season that offer Ridgway hope that his club will be a completely different outfit in 2009/10.
“In some respects it was frustrating, but on the other hand it was exciting and satisfying,” he said.
“It was satisfying in the results the lower grades received and got and satisfying in the individual performances of a lot of our players.
“From the debacle we had with our friends at Hawthorn to get to where we got wasn’t a coincidence – it was due to a lot of hard work from people at the club.”
Clive Rose proved again why he is the club’s marquee player.
He struggled initially before flourishing in his unlikely role as opener and snared career-best figures in the final-round victory over the Panthers.
Veteran batsman Michael Hansen was another good performer after a tough 2007/08 and Herrick flashed his vast potential in the last five matches of the summer.
Wright was also brilliant in his rare sightings for the Swans after excelling for the Bushrangers for most of the season.
Ridgway expects Wright to lessen his state load next summer, which will see him play more often for Casey-South Melbourne.
Evergreen quick Matthew Hawking was typically efficient, while the luckless Perera will surely capture more victims next season.
Ridgway is also set to unveil a couple of major signings that will stiffen the club’s batting order.
The former St Kilda premiership mentor also tipped big things for up-and-coming teenagers Jeff de Wet, Brett Eddy, Ryan Arnell, Dylan Hadfield, Chris Borg and Lachlan Cleeland.
“The people in the background – the Mick Taylors and Ross Hibbins’ and full working committee at Casey – have been tremendous,” Ridgway said.
“They’ve gone through this whole shambles with me through thick and thin and we’ve come out the other end stronger and a club with some really good foundations.
“Hopefully, we’ll start getting some results.”