Demons rumbling in build-up
Watch out Wimmera Football League! A new-look Horsham team is fit, fired up and primed for a big year.
The Demons are ticking their pre-season assignment boxes left, right and centre and a combination of player depth, experience and direction is likely to have them cherry ripe for the opening game.
Forget predictions that Horsham might finally be on the decline after years of domination. All the signs are that the Demons are gearing up for a major resurgence, this time on the back of a leadership development program.
Horsham coach and former Wimmera interleague mastermind Louie Dalziel said the club hierarchy had identified a need to develop leadership within the group in an effort to provide an environment to develop future coaches.
“We’ve had really good coaches come up inside our club,” he said. “It’s not easy and not cheap to get a playing coach or coach to walk into your club – it is always better if you can groom them within your own walls.
“We’ve done that successfully, probably since Guy Smith coached the club – even up to last year with Nick Pekin and Brad Hartigan as senior coaches. We’re always looking for the next leaders and feel we’re pretty well on track.
“We have a terrific lot of young leaders who just need more guidance, tuition and an opportunity to grow within themselves.”
Horsham is so intent on developing the leadership concept that it put players through a leadership course in October.
“We identified some of those players at the end of the year and placed them in a leadership group,” Dalziel said.
“These are players who have been in the club since minis and are now up around the 100-senior-game mark.
“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realise that as well as knowing the system they will also bring their own ideas to the table.”
Dalziel said the arrival of assistant coach Deek Roberts and experienced campaigners Josh Mibus and Tim Wade would also add to leadership stocks already strengthened by the appointment of John Wood and Rhona Conboy as joint captains.
“John’s ability to get himself in peak physical condition rubs off on other players, and of course we have other leaders such as Brad and Jeremy Hartigan and Joel Geue who have experienced coaching or captaincy positions and know the right times to have a say,” he said.
While the club will miss dynamic Pekin, who is coaching Harrow-balmoral, Dalziel is confident the influx of at least 15 players to the senior list will cover Pekin’s and Alex Thomson’s absence.
He said Mibus and Wade would also cover key-position deficiencies of last year and free up players to switch into running or midfield positions.
“We’ve made terrific inroads into developing our player depth, another issue we identified. At the moment we have 57 players on our list and the turn-out to training has been significant in comparison with previous years,” Dalziel said.
“We knew we fell short to key areas back and forward and Josh and Tim are significant inclusions. Both have coached outright and have cool and calming dispositions. We’ve already seen in a short period of time Wadey step in to provide advice to the likes of Billy Carberry. They also know they can’t just walk back into the Wimmera league and dominate, but they have been strong on the track.
“Unlike other years we’re going to have a lot of height.
“Alongside Wadey and Josh, Billy and Sid Hernon we also have Will Deayton coming up from the under-17s and Dawson Cross, who is super fit. We’ll have Ryan Kemp up forward in the goals, who is potentially a 50 or 60-goal season player, Joel Geue also in attack and half a dozen players rolling through the middle.
“To be honest, I believe we have five potential Toohey Medalists running around in our squad. Jack Mentha is back and training the house down.
Dalziel said the Demons had yet to set a target this season but were confident they had a strong, deep list that could take the club well into the finals.
“Horsham had a good side last year but dropped off due to not having the depth of players to finish it off. This year looks different,” he said.
Horsham has been training since November last year and has practice matches against Mundulla at Mundulla on Saturday, and Cobden on April 1 at Cobden. It has also tested itself against Ballarat side North City.
“We’ve been going strongly with our preparation so far. We’ll back off the hard running and get into developing game sense. The next month will be crucial in our preparation,” Dalziel said.