Eagles feather nest for a return to upper reaches
THE foundations have been laid.
First-year Newtown & Chilwell coach Damien McMahon remains bullish about next season after completing its 2017 campaign with a 105-point win over Lara.
The Eagles played 37 senior players and were without Jai Sheahan and Rob Condy in the back end of the season after the departures of Jarrod McCorkell and Paul Hinkley.
But the 2015 grand finalist showed plenty in the second half of the season to suggest it could return to finals in 2018.
“Our players are understanding of my game style and my expectations of them and how we want to play,” McMahon said.
“It was always going to take half a season to get that right and it probably took three quarters of the season.
“We know what the players can and cannot do, we’ve thrown them around a lot. We’ve played guys in lots of different roles.
“(Braden) Hocking and Nelson Browne have played key back all year, Tom Herbert’s turned into a defender, Cam Lewis was a forward and now he’s a defender, so we’ve done lots of things with different players.
“We know we’ve got a core crew of players who are going to be good GFL senior players and we’ve identified the holes that we’ve got as a team.
“We know we’ll be up there among the better teams in the comp next year.”
Putting a struggling Lara to the sword on Saturday, McMahon acknowledged his side must take significant strides forward to match the top teams in the competition.
“We’re probably 10 per cent off the best teams,” he said.
“We finished sixth on the ladder and that’s where we deserved to finish, but I don’t think the gap is that far away from where we need to get to.”
With Condy considering his future, McMahon has identified the need to bolster his on-ball brigade.
“I think we need more experience through our midfield,” he said.
“David Fanning and Matt McMahon are our two most experienced players, but after that, we’ve had a lot of younger players in the team.
“We need another Matt McMahon type, someone who is 26-27 and played 150 games of senior football to really strengthen us.”
In a positive sign, the Eagles have locked away a majority of their list.
“We’ve got some players coming back from overseas and others from long-term injuries,” McMahon said.