Culture key for young Kees
Kalkee is there or there abouts again in 2022 heading into finals – just as it was in 2021. The Kees would consider themselves a premiership fancy and it would be hard to mount a case against this belief.
They were the only side to beat minor premiers Rupanyup this season and only dropped games to Harrow-balmoral – in round two and round 13.
The Kees spent a get-out-of-jail-free card after only just pulling off a victory against a severely COVID-19 impacted Jeparit-rainbow in round five – but have since done everything needed to land themselves a top-two spot and the crucial double chance.
Does the fire still burn for the Kees? They lost the grand final to Harrow-balmoral in 2018 and it could be the Southern Roos there again, standing in their way.
The red and blue would not like the fact it was the Southern Roos who were the only team to get the better of them this year – twice.
Their round-13 clash saw the Kees reap 13 scoring opportunities compared with the Southern Roos’ 27 – so while the final result might be a convincing 39-points, an inaccurate Harrow-balmoral might have allowed the Kees to cellophane over some cracks in the way they line up against the reigning premiers.
However, conversely, it seems Rupanyup, at least on paper, has the stronger top-three outfit in 2022. The Kees’ recent success against the Panthers will form part of an interesting dynamic this finals series.
The Kees in 2022 have gone to town on teams in the lower third of the ladder, however only scrapped through against sides within the middle tier.
A 146-point win against Natimuk United in round nine, a 148-point win against Pimpinio in round 10, a 151-point win
against Taylors Lake in round 11 and a 149-point win against Kaniva-leeor United in round 12 are all huge victories against young and inexperienced sides.
However, less than one-goal wins against the Storm in round five, and Edenhope-apsley the round prior, might suggest the Kees, while a strong side, are not ready to storm into the elite tier just yet.
However, Kees players and members would think differently.
Senior coach Stuart Farr, before the start of the season, praised the strong junior football culture at Kalkee and rated highly his young players making inroads into the senior side – and, indeed, those already embedded within its structures.
After some player turn over at the end of 2021, his capacity to rebound with Kees young guns has been impressive.
He said the Kees hoped to ‘move the ball fast’ and ‘use their leg speed’ as a compensation for a lack of height.
“We also want to be a high-pressure side, win the ball back well and lock it in our front half,” he said.
Indeed, the Kees pressure on the ball carrier in 2022 has been a weapon of theirs, something obvious to people on the other side of the fence – as is a team buy-in to a hard-nosed element across the centre of the ground.
Farr also said there were no excuses for the Kees not to qualify for finals this year.
They have done that comfortably; now let’s see how far they can go.
There is no doubt the Kees have become part of the league’s stable of powerhouse clubs again, and their success this August would reward a club that has a football culture to rival many.