A burning incentive
Just how hungry is Minyip-Murtoa in Wimmera Football League? The Burras are no doubt more than a little annoyed that a premiership flag they have been hot on the trail of in the past few years has managed to evade them at the deathknock.
And the reality is, getting their hands on the cup come that big weekend in September will be the only true indicator of improvement on last year.
Minyip-Murtoa coach Damian Cameron agreed that finishing runner-up last season was a significant motivation, for not only him, but also a large core group of players. He also admitted that winning a premiership was an obvious goal.
“We haven’t spoken about it, but that’s what everyone is thinking about. It would be disappointing if we didn’t get another crack at it and means getting as deeply into the finals as we can,” he said.
Minyip-Murtoa appears in a rock-solid position to again feature prominently as one of the competition yardsticks.
The club has enviable numbers and this year a rare luxury of promising juniors knocking on the door. The club is sound financially and socially, enjoying considerable support from both of its Yarriambiack communities and networks.
From a purely football perspective, it’s a backbone collective of about 15 players who are driving senior prospects for the Burras.
Cameron revealed that this core group of players, most of them stung by last year’s disappointment against Horsham, had been setting a benchmark during the pre-season training build-up.
“The core group put in a massive effort and is well ahead of where they were at the same time last year. A lot of clubs have that key core group of six to eight players but to have around 15 is fantastic,” he said.
Despite the solidarity, Minyip-Murtoa will have some changes to the group that led the team to the finals last year. There is a handful of players either leaving the camp or out of action but they are being replaced by others joining the ranks.
A big loss for the year is running midfielder Kade Petering, still recovering from knee surgery. Ollie Young has moved to Mackay, Cooper Bateson will play in Geelong, Blake Young will stay in Melbourne and Mitch Delahunty is playing with Kalkee.
Offsetting the losses are the likes of Callum Hobbs from Harrow-balmoral, Lachie Johns, Waubra, and Mitch Cronin, Tatyoon, as well as returning Jake Ballagh and Dan Clark.
The club is also closely watching the progress of teenagers such as Bray Cullinan, Jacob Butcher and Logan Petering.
Cameron said he would promote a similar game style and plan he had in place last year, with a major emphasis on simply building on consistency and strong team football.
“There is nothing massive that we’re pinpointing. Last year in the grand final we were beaten by a side that played better team footy on the day,” he said.
“We introduced a new direction last year and for the players it is all about getting their footy to become natural to them, so things become second nature in working as a team.”
Cameron again has a strong coaching team around him with Sam Winfield and Kieran Delahunty in assistant roles.
New Burras president and former coach Scott Arnold said the club was generally in a healthy position overall and players, officers and fans were all looking forward to the season.
“There is a nice feel around the place. We have a lot of community support and a strong contingent of sponsors,” he said.
Mr Arnold said the Burras, in being highly aware of a need to support and promote their youngest members, had scheduled an opening-round twilight fixture against Dimboola at Murtoa to end with under-12s football and 13 and under netball.