By Marcus Uhe
Berwick coach Clint Evans believes there’s light at the end of the tunnel for his side despite a winless opening to the 2024 Eastern Football Netball League (EFNL) Premier Division season.
As the casualty list grows, the depth of the Wickers is being tested to the nth degree, drawing on reserves and Under 19s players to play above their standard at senior level.
Will Arthurson was ruled out in the preseason after rupturing his ACL, and has been joined on the casualty list by Deng Andrew, Ben Todd, Ashton Williamson and Harrison Canning, while Nick Hillard is yet to pull on the boots in 2024.
It’s necessary perspective when evaluating a side that is struggling to score and put together four quarters of football, and one that is holding the club in good spirits, in the eyes of Evans, looking for “little wins”.
“I think on the weekend we had 15 in our side that had played 10 senior games or less, and eight-ten that had played five senior games or under,” he said.
“I think we’ve had 12 debutants in five rounds, so every week changes with us and you’ve just got to try and keep them upbeat.
“We need four or five players in our side.
“If we had them, we’re not that far away.
“From the outside looking in, you’d look at the scores and go ‘gee they’re getting smashed,’ but if you we’re actually at the games, you’d understand where we’re coming from.
“We’re such a young group, but we’re improving all the time, which is good, and the guys can see that.”
Braedyn Bowden, Noah Cannon, Sam Hilton-Joyce and Caydn Lane have been standouts to date, with Bowden shouldering a significant load at centre-half-back in a side conceding a league-worst 105.6 points per game.
At home on Saturday against ladder-leading Balwyn, the Wickers trailed by two points at quarter time but kicked two goals for the remainder of the afternoon, where their opponents kicked nine.
Evans can see improvements and development in the side taking ownership and making the new era theirs, beginning with getting more and more comfortable with the game plan.
But its mistakes that are costing them, a part-and-parcel trait for a side trying to find its feet.
“On the weekend, to put this into perspective, from our turnovers they scored 67 points, compared to their turnovers for us (scoring), we scored 19,” Evans said.
“Our ball movement is getting a lot better, we’re opening sides up with our run on the outside.
“Our execution and our end game, we turn the ball over a lot.
“That’s maturity and games played – we don’t have the experience of these other sides.
“I think on the weekend Balwyn had two or three ex-AFL (players) and six or seven ex-VFL (players), we don’t have that in our sides.
“The experience that they’re getting at the moment is going to hold them in good stead moving forward.”
Evans is hopeful for the return of some senior heads after the bye, but insists that spirits remain high at the club.
“It’s hard when you’re losing but the club understands where we’re at, the boys understand where we’re at but they’ve got to, as I say to them after every game, we want to put three years experience on them and 50 games because it will be totally different,” he said.
“The club, committee and everything this year are all on the same age, which is the number one thing.
“We speak every couple of weeks and they know where we’re at as a footy club.
“As a coach, that’s what you want.”
The relentless nature of the EFNL sees them head to East Ringwood this week, a side that has lost just once in 2024, and Vermont the following week, to complete the set of six sides that played finals in 2023.
East Ringwood kept Noble Park scoreless for a half of football on Saturday afternoon in a five-goal win at Pat Wright Senior Oval.
