Storm keen to maintain rage

Jeparit-rainbow is just about due to take a deep breath in Horsham District football competition.

But what taking the time needed to gulp in some fresh oxygen to recharge the cells will mean for the Storm this year remains to be seen.

The reality is that Jeparitrainbow, falling short of winning a flag, has enjoyed success since joining the competition four years ago.

The big question confronting the Hindmarsh force this season is, amid speculation the side has lost a few quality players, can it maintain the form that has made it a consistent top-six outfit?

Jeparit-rainbow surprised and delighted many of its own supporters by making an elimination final in 2015. The year represented a significant step for club.

The following year the club then continued its rise, elevating itself to benchmark status by playing in a 2016 preliminary.

It then made another preliminary final in 2017 and last year did almost as well, reaching a semi-final after finishing the home-and-away season third on the ladder behind Harrowbalmoral and Kalkee.

What the results mean over the past few seasons is that there has been an expectation for Jeparit-rainbow to at least make the finals.

And that’s the aim new playing coach Daniel Batson, replacing Tim Inkster, has for his team this year.

“Like every team our main goal is to make finals and give ourselves the best chance possible to have success,” he said.

“If we can get to the finals we can then see what we can make happen.”

Batson said solid performances early in the season were important and why he was pushing improved pre-season fitness levels.

“I’ve been trying to work on the guys getting a bit fitter – to be in a good position to compete strongly from the start,” he said.

“We will also be tweaking a few things we did last year. Much of what we will try to do will be about generating defensive intensity and scoring from turnovers.

“It’s a bit grey about how game plans will develop considering the turnover of players we have.

“When we get people on the field things can change fairly quickly.”

Jeparit-rainbow has captured plenty of attention for some of the talent it has lost, with Ash and Tom Clugston going to Dimboola, follower Sam Cranna and Luke Murphy staying in Adelaide and Adam Schulz and Luke Werner returning to Warrack Eagles.

But the team appears likely to cover some of its losses with key-position player Simon Clugston and Lucas Edelsten, injured for much of last year, all but recruits.

The Storm also has Shane Maslin, Brad Hunter, Tom Eichner and Wayne Batson travelling back from Adelaide and the likes of Matthew Thomas, Xavier Oakley and Liam Preston pushing to make an impression.

Batson, who has Marcus Hiscock as his bench coach, said the club didn’t have the luxury of great depth in juniors, but the juniors emerging were of high quality.

“We’re confident we can cover some of our losses internally with either players coming back from injury or young players,” he said.

“Our quality at the top will be as good as it’s been and winning the reserves premiership shows we have depth, but that will be tested.

“Hopefully we can maintain the rage and fight for the top of the ladder at the pointy end of the season.”

The Storm is also blessed with few injuries to start the season.

Club president Jason Hutson agreed making finals was again priority for the Storm, but added it was getting tough to attract players.

“This year will most likely represent a good chance for young players to step up and get some senior experience,” he said.

“Daniel has had the blokes training since the start of January and the core senior blokes from last year have been there most nights.”

Mr Hutson said the Storm was still finalising coaches for all levels and training and games would be at both Jeparit and Rainbow, which were looking good.

Jeparit-rainbow will have a hitout in a practice match against St Arnaud at St Arnaud on March 30. It has a bye in the first round.

The Storm is also planning a major club Sunday event at Jeparit on April 28, featuring a variety of activities and entertainment, after the club’s first home.