YOUNG AND BOLD AND READY TO ROLL

COACHES GET 2014 WOODEN SPOONERS TO GRAND FINAL

WHEN it comes to interviews with prospective football coaches, the usual order goes as follows: an advertisement is placed, an application is submitted, an interview is granted and the applicant does their best to convince the selection panel they are the right person for the job.

But such was the desperation of the Thomson Football Club after it ‘won’ the wooden spoon in 2014, it was the Tigers who had to convince Reece Holwell and Brent ‘Squizzy’ Taylor that accepting the job was the right call.

Taylor had been made aware of the club’s interest in acquiring him after a chance conversation with then vicepresident Jeremy Babb one night at a local bar.

But having played in premierships at Drysdale with Holwell and knowing he was keen to get into coaching at some point, he raised the idea of bringing him along to a meeting with president Terry Macleod and his brother, football manager Greg.

From there, Holwell’s outlook on joining the Tigers changed immediately.

He spoke with two former Thomson coaches, Tom Harriott and Bellarine Football League legend Damian Clark, who advocated for the duo to take on the gig, and says ultimately they felt there was nothing to lose and everything to gain by accepting the role.

“Squiz was half keen after that initial conversation (with Babb) and that got back to the president, Terry Macleod, and then he was on the phone to organise the meeting,” Holwell explained.

“Squiz had said he wasn’t sure if he could do it himself as a first-year coach and mentioned about getting me along to that meeting.

“I was probably a bit hesitant about meeting up and Squiz convinced me that the least we could do was go and hear them out and from there the ball got rolling.

“I went into that meeting probably 95 per cent not wanting to do it but Greg Macleod sat us down and was very passionate about how he spoke about the club.

“He had some good ideas in place to help us out and really pumped up the history and success of the club and said the foundations were really strong.

“We walked out of that and had gone almost 180 degrees. It was really impressive how they presented to us and we went away and looked at it and thought why not, let’s give it a crack.

“We probably thought, we shouldn’t say it, but what have we got to lose?

“We almost can’t be any worse than what they were last year, so we could only build from there and the expectations weren’t so high.” Build they did. Under the new cocoaches, the Tigers went from two wins and a percentage of 50 to 11 wins — enough to finish in sixth spot, just a game out of the top five.

Some heavy recruiting saw Thomson land former gun junior Brent Macleod for a year in 2016, as it reached finals for the first time since 2012. And while there has been a reasonable turnover of players since, Holwell says the rise from bottom of the ladder to grand finalist can mostly be attributed to the initial pre-season campaign that he and Taylor oversaw.

“The first pre-season we did, the reports from players were they wanted to get fit and have a successful year so we put things in place and the bottom line was that if we were missing a bit of talent on the list we would try our best to make up for it with our fitness,” he said.

“So from day dot that was what we preached — rock up to training, work hard and you will get the benefits during the year.

“That first year was a bit of an unknown, we didn’t know a great deal about the league, but everyone said if you get your guys fit it will win you a handful of games, so that was what we did.

“We were probably a little bit unlucky to miss finals but we knew it would give us a good platform. Not so much with the current list but with recruiting, we were able to show new players we had won two games the year before and now we won 11.

“So that was pretty important to give guys the belief that we could get them going in the right direction.”

On Saturday, Thomson faces a rampaging Inverleigh, who will be out to avenge last year’s grand final loss to Bell Post Hill.

The Hawks have been the team to beat all season — their two losses have been by a point, and by 17 points in a game where they had 27 scoring shots to 19.

They have beaten the Tigers by 45 and 38 points in their two meetings in 2018 and will start as firm favourites, but Thomson will not be worried in the slightest.

Its players know they have two of the best young coaches in the competition at the helm, who will back them in at every turn, just as Holwell says the club did for him and Taylor.

“We have got to thank the Thommy footy club for giving us the opportunity and backing us in,” he said.

“They could have easily gone for someone else but they put faith in two guys who didn’t have a great deal of experience and we are definitely happy to repay them with where we are today.

“In saying that, the players have been fantastic over the last four years. We have turned over players, and I guess every side does, but guys have definitely stuck around and bought in.

“We have been building and it is really good to see them in this position.”

It might have taken an unconventional approach to secure their targets, but four years on, it could deliver the ultimate reward.