WARRIORS MAD FOR SUCCESS
LOOKING remarkably like Donald Trump as he sipped on a cold ale, Mick Fitzgerald was feeling on top of the world.
“I honestly don’t reckon it’s sunk in yet,” Fitzgerald said at Modewarre’s Mad Monday celebrations at the Barking Dog yesterday, days after Saturday’s grand final triumph.
“I’m constantly asking people, ‘can you believe it’. I’m asking myself, ‘can you believe it’.
“It really is quite surreal. I’ve had an amazing amount of messages and phone calls from a wide range of people from our club, different clubs, family and friends, and I’m sure everyone else has had the same.
“Anyone who is involved in a football-netball club knows how much works goes in from a whole range of people. This is just reward for effort.”
The club came together as one, celebrating senior football and A grade netball flags while commiserating the reserves’ heartbreaking one-point loss.
Underdogs in their second senior grand final in three years, the Warriors were the unlikeliest of premiers at Mortimer Oval on Saturday.
But Fitzgerald said he always had a sense of belief in co-coaches John Meesen, Josh Finch and the team.
“I certainly had faith that we could do it,” he said.
“We set our path six or seven years ago and that’s what we thought we had to do to make it possible. You need a lot of luck as well as hard work, and I knew we could do it, but it’s quite amazing that it’s actually happened.”
With a 24-year premiership drought over, Fitzgerald said the club’s focused had already turned to securing back-to-back flags.
“We’re trying to build some sustainability,” he said.
“And with the points system coming in, it’s really important to promote juniors. We’re not blessed with great numbers in the juniors but they’re all really committed to the club.
“Our age demographic is in a good place right at the moment to be successful for a fair few years.
“‘Meeso’, ‘Finchy’ and Nath (Ablett) are the oldest guys in the team and they’ve still got two or three or even four years of top quality footy left, but the Bellarine has got so much better in the last few years and you’ve got to continue to improve.
“If you stand still, they’ll go past you and we’re conscious of that. We’d like to think we’ve got a stable list and it’s a good place to be.”
Finch and Meesen are yet to commit to coaching next season, but Fitzgerald all-but confirmed the pair would be offered a contract extension once the dust settled.
“That would be our preference,” he said of Meesen and Finch coaching on in 2019.
“It’s all about that sustainability. I’ll certainly have that discussion, but again, it’s going to be a discussion with everyone.
“And if we all feel that it’s best for them to remain in charge, or a slight alteration in the make up, then we’ll go with that.
“It’s our preference for them to stay. They work really well together on and off the field, they’re lifelong friends, and the chemistry works between those two and they bring a fair bit to the club and the group.”
A tireless worker, Fitzgerald is every bit the architect of the Warrior’s long-awaited success. Contributing in a number of facets at the club in his nine-year reign as president, he admitted the role was “pretty much” a part-time job.
“A lot gets put aside, and people in my position would put 30 to 40 hours in,” he said. “It’s not a part-time job, it’s almost like a full-time job. But it’s not a chore. You’re spending quality time with really good people.
“It has its ups and downs because you put so much effort into it, and when you don’t get reward it can be challenging, but it makes it all worthwhile on a Saturday afternoon at five o’clock.”