HOW CORIO MADE ITS MARK:
QUICK fixes aren’t what Bridgitte Burns is about.
When the 31-year-old moved to Corio to take on the role as head coach this season it was always going to be a long-term project.
It comes with the territory when you consider that the Devils had not won an A-grade match since 2014, but Burns was up for the fight.
Having spent time in the national league in South Africa she knew that if Corio was to be successful beyond 2017 then changing the way her players approached their netball would be crucial.
It is why what happens off the court at Shell Oval is of far greater importance than the on-court results, and for Burns, rebuilding the culture from the ground up was the first step in the process of transforming the club beyond even the wildest imagination of Devils supporters this year.
“The off-court stuff that we’re doing is built around all the values that we set out for the club at the start of the season,” Burns said. “Those things were non-negotiable expectations that were about driving off-court behaviours as well as on-court behaviours.
“We had an acronym, Teacher, which stood for teamwork, effort, attitude, commitment, honesty, encouragement and respect; and that was to be shown among the group but also to opponents and to umpires and volunteers.
“And we also had to put out what behaviours we attached to each value and what we expected of one another.
“From there, the behaviours piggybacked off of that.”
Lengthy meetings with committee members during preseason culminated with the setting of short-term and longer-term goals, and most people at the club agreed that a three-year plan to move from the bottom of the GDFL netball table back to finals was a fair and reasonable target.
But the Corio players had other ideas, and after starting the first six weeks of the season with a 4-1 record (there was a draw when the game against East Geelong was abandoned due to weather) those goals were subsequently amended.
“I think if you look to rebuild anything you probably look at a three-year time frame, so when we first started the process we set a couple of goals with the committee,” Burns said.
“After about six weeks we had to rethink what those goals were and reset the benchmark on what we wanted to achieve, and then after Round 12 we had to reset them again.
“It is exciting in terms of, it’s not the sky is the limit, but how much more can we ask of ourselves because the competition is quite even. Everyone thought it was a three-team competition but we knew eventually the more we played together the more we could compete with what everyone thought was the top three.
“So for us, this is an exciting year but we always went into it thinking to turn the club around would be a three-year project, not just one season, so every week is a bonus.
“Everyone individually knows how to win because they’ve played in winning teams before, but now we know how to win together.”
Following consecutive winless seasons, the Devils finished the year with a bang, winning the last eight homeand-away matches and rocketing into fourth spot on the ladder.
They won their elimination final against North Geelong by three goals, and their 51-45 victory over last year’s grand finalists, Bannockburn, has propelled them into a preliminary final against Thomson, a side it defeated by 13 goals in Round 15.
A win would remarkably see them square off against Werribee Centrals in a grand final, which Burns says would be reward for a recruiting policy which put character above ability.
The former South Barwon premiership player, who was best friends with Madi Robinson through school, said recruiting good people was paramount, with skills a bonus.
“At the start when I had to go looking for players I tried to recruit good people first and one of those is our captain, Jess Cox, who I played with at Portarlington,” Burns said. “She is just a great leader and quality person, and is a really considerate, true team player.
“We tried to attract good people rather than (focus on) really talented individuals with big names. We wanted team players so Jess was my first recruit and then we went from there.”
Corio plays Thomson at St Albans Reserve at 2.30pm on Saturday.