FARRER FILES: MARRAR BOMBERS

2014 Finish: 3rd

Home & Away: 11 wins; 5 losses (finished 4th on ladder)

Finals Form: Won elimination final against North Wagga

Won minor semi-final against Coleambally

Lost preliminary final to Temora

Club Best & Fairest: Shannon Williams

Telstra Rising Star: Callum Gardner

Snapshot:

The Bombers had a very good start to 2014, and early in the season loomed as the team most likely to be Temora’s toughest challenger. A heavy injury toll disrupted their season though, and in the depths of winter there were questions about whether they’d be playing in spring. Coleambally, East Wagga-Kooringal and the Kangaroos emerged as the big three heading into the finals. However, Clint Taylor got his team back on track. They finished fourth and then edged out North Wagga in a tough encounter at Gumly Oval in the first week of the finals. With their tails up, Marrar demolished Coleambally a week later at Maher Oval with a fine performance, before running into trouble against their old rival, Temora, in the preliminary final. Matching the Farrer League frontrunners for the first half, the Bombers were still in the game up to the last quarter but again fell short of Mark Kruger’s men.

There’s a new leader at the helm for 2015, with Nic Casey coming in as coach. An assistant to Nathon Irvin at RFL runners-up MCUE, Casey had no hesitation in joining Marrar – “I know their values, what they stand for, and what sort of a family club they are.” – and is keen to tackle the Farrer League challenge. “I watched the grand final… the people that think the gap between the Farrer League and the RFL is huge, they’re kidding themselves I think.”

Taylor will stay on as a player next year and will offer more than just his considerable ability. “It’s a credit to Marrar to be able to keep a coach on board as a player, it’s really good,” says Casey.

“I’ll lean on Clint, and a lot of the senior players. They’re the ones with the local knowledge and understanding the playing list, so it’ll be very beneficial to get their input.”

Casey’s made an immediate impact, enticing Temora best-and-fairest winner Josh Hagar home to Marrar, along with his Kangaroos teammate Jackson Moye, and Turvey Park pair Tyler and Jesse Cunningham.

Highlights:

The discovery of ruckman Nathan Smith was one of the brightest points of the year. In his first season of Aussie Rules, he grew into a key man for the Bombers, to the extent that they were right in the preliminary final against Temora, until he went down with an ankle injury. More on ‘Smudgy’ shortly…

There was also the emergence of Generation Next at Marrar, led by Cal Gardner. Assistant coach Shane Macintosh noticed the changing of the guard. “Marrar is going through a change of leadership, you could say. A group of blokes around my age, 30-plus, have all been there for a while but probably there’s a group I reckon – Cal, Kez Roberts, Bryce Graetz, Mitch Taylor – taking over the leadership roles. That’s one of the most pleasing things about the Marrar footy club at the moment.”

Macintosh also pointed out that the challenge for Gardner, after a breakout season, is to take his footy even further next season.

Lowlights:

Every club strikes them to some degree, but injuries cursed Marrar’s season. Brad Turner, Clint Taylor and Nathan Smith all spent reasonable stints on the sideline. As Macintosh points out, “Those injuries were to our three most important players because we didn’t have someone else to come in and take their positions. If you lose a midfielder, you might have a handful of players champing at the bit to have their chance. But when you lose a ruckman, centre half forward and centre halfback, we just didn’t have anyone to replace them.”

Gardner was also out with concussion after being felled in a game against CSU. Bushpigs coach Brett Garrett was suspended, but the hit sparked an incident between an official and spectator on the sideline. “That wasn’t what you want to see at country footy, an incident like that and front and back page headlines, so that was one of the lowlights for the year,” says Macintosh.

Surprise Packet:

As mentioned, former league player Nathan Smith has been a revelation. Although he missed a handful of games with injury, he still managed a top 10 finish in the Clear Medal with 12 votes – from four best-on-ground performances – to come in seventh, just one behind highly rated footballers Matt Wallis (Temora) and Nathan Dowdle (North Wagga). Taylor during the season described the former Junee Diesel as a delight to coach, saying the seamless transition was a result of Smith applying himself to learning his role in the middle, and understanding the game.

Casey was quick to speak with Smith. “I think he got in their best about nine times, and there was a period there where he was consistently their best player. It’s just his athleticism. For a bloke in his first season, that’s a great effort. The boys love being under him.” Macintosh vouches for that: “We’re pretty excited now knowing what he’s got, to try and develop him even more over the pre-season.”

Areas to improve:

Having observed Temora’s demolition of East Wagga-Kooringal in the decider, Casey’s aware of what it will take to win a premiership. “They were very well coached. They didn’t seem to have anyone that was going to go out and try to beat anyone by themselves, they all knew their role in the team. They fed the ball well off the ground. They just killed them around the footy. They definitely were impressive.”

Macintosh says the players are keen to work under Casey, and also believes they showed versatility last season under Taylor. “We sort of changed our game plan late… after three losses in a row in the middle part of the year we needed to change things up. We played on at all costs, and tried to make it fast football. It worked, it got us to within a few goals of the grand final, so it was pleasing in that we adapted. Overall, I was pretty happy with how we finished up – we were up against Temora in the third quarter until we lost ‘Smudgy’ to injury, and then to only lose by four goals. They won the grand final a week later by about 10 goals, so we weren’t far away. But you always set out to win, and we didn’t…”

What to look forward to:

Casey was quick to move in the recruitment department. Shortly after signing on himself, he declared he was looking to bolster the club’s midfield . He’s convinced Temora’s best-and-fairest, and three-time premiership player, Josh Hagar, to return home to Marrar. Hagar’s young Kangaroos teammate Jackson Moye – a dual premiership winner – has also made the move.

And then there was the Cunningham coup, bringing Jesse and Tyler from Turvey Park to the Farrer League club, as well as the return of Matt Molkentin from Tumbarumba.

Marrar is a club built on ties to its community, and Casey says the most important aspect of the club’s recruiting process has been signing players who will fit into the Langtry Oval landscape.

Casey learnt plenty in his time at the Goannas and comes to the Bombers with a clear view of the type of footy he wants to see: “I’ve already worked out how I’d like us to play… we definitely just want a real clean style of footy. It’s going to be a defensive mindset first of all. I think you get your back end settled down early and then you sort out your attack. The way modern footy’s played, all your drive comes from there.”

One of the key men will be Clint Taylor, playing without the added responsibilities of coaching. His experience and ability stood out in Marrar’s finals campaign, and just focussing on his own game will only help.