RIVERINA FILES: TURVEY PARK
TURVEY PARK
2014 Finish: 7th
Home & Away: 4 wins; 12 losses.
Club Best & Fairest: Andrew Emery
Telstra Rising Star: Josh Ashcroft
Snapshot:
When a proud club is forced to endure three years of wooden spoons, it’s easy to say the only way is up. But actually climbing your way back into contention is tougher done than said. Under Chris Cerato, the Bulldogs made up plenty of ground in 2014. Four wins for the year and finishing seventh may have been below expectations, however they take some satisfaction out of the season for having taken the first steps on the road to respectability.
“Look, we jumped a hundred fold compared to the years before,” says president Vin Carroll. “We’ve got a lot of good young blokes, we just need some smart heads and a bit of experience around them. If we’d had a couple of older blokes I reckon we could’ve won a couple more games. It doesn’t take much to turn it around.”
To that end, Turvey Park began making its moves on 2015 before last season finished. Although the the Cunningham brothers, Jesse and Tyler, have exited the kennel for Marrar, the Bulldogs are one of many clubs in the Riverina to secure talent from Canberra, signing former Eastlake players Chad Gibson and Ash Moloney. There’s also former premiership player Dane Campbell coming home, while Chris Cerato steps down as coach but stays on as a player.
The new coach is Troy Maiden, who returns to Maher Oval after a season as senior assistant to Bryce Campbell at Corowa-Rutherglen in the Ovens & Murray League, and before that, four years as the RFL rep coach and three years at Wagga Tigers. “I suppose the time’s right,” says Maiden. “I couldn’t believe it’s been nine years or so since I’ve been there – that’s just flown.”
His expectations will be crystal clear to players: “What I’m looking for is us to win some respect back, first and foremost. I want a group that’s really hungry and competitive in every game we play.”
Highlights
When you win, on average, only one game in four throughout the season, the victories are special. But not all wins are created equal. Ask Carroll for his 2014 highlights and it doesn’t take long: “Beating Tigers, of course,” he says with a laugh. The upset win in round four, at home, was even sweeter in hindsight for being their arch-rivals’ heaviest defeat all season. (Although Tigers had the last chuckle, winning the return encounter comfortably and playing a fortnight of finals football).
On a more serious note, the young talent at Turvey Park began to mature in 2014. Club best and fairest Andrew Emery is not long eligible to buy a beer at the Rules Club, and his nearest rivals in the Bulldogs’ vote count, Chase Grintell and Josh Ashcroft, are also youngsters on the rise. A full season of first grade goes a long way in developing a teenaged footballer, and the improvement in Emery and Ashcroft in particular was a sight for sore Turvey Park eyes. “They had standout years,” says Vin Carroll.
The Bulldogs also are proud to have set a new standard off the field – in their celebration of the AFL’s Indigenous Round. They became the first club in the region to formally recognise the contributions of Indigenous footballers, past and present. A Welcome to Country and players turning out in specially-designed Indigenous Round guernseys were among the initiatives as Turvey Park set the standard locally in buying into the AFL’s nationwide celebration, and earned plenty of kudos beyond their own boundaries for the effort. Club identity Stephen Smith was a driving force behind the Indigenous Round celebration, and Carroll says the club is keen to build on it next year.
Surprise Packet:
The club’s Telstra Rising Star, Josh Ashcroft, gets the president’s nomination. “We always knew Andy Emery was going to be something… I reckon he’ll be the gun centre half-back or centre half-forward for a long time,” says Carroll. “So my standout was Josh… he had a really big year. You get smarter as you get older but just the way he goes about it too with his aggression at the ball. He’s a bloke who never gives in, he’s always in the contest. Nine times out 10 when he goes for it, he gets the hard ball. He’ll get knocked over, get back up, get knocked over again and be straight back into it. He’s never beaten.”
Areas to Improve:
Troy Maiden saw barely a game of RFL football last season, spending most weekends travelling to Corowa. At the moment, the new coach is getting to know his players with a pre-Christmas training stint. Asked whether it’s a soft launch before the pre-season sledgehammer hits in January, the former Bulldogs premiership player hinted otherwise. “We’re doing a bit of work already… I need to know where our guys sit fitness wise. And I need to see how their skills are when they start to fatigue.”
Of course, Maiden’s done his research and – as hinted at by the president – attitude and maturity will be a focus. “They won four, but they tell me there’s probably another four that they could’ve won against good sides. I think it’s learning how to win – putting yourself in that position and finishing it off to win.”
Bringing in experience and leadership will complement the young talent still learning their trade at Turvey. Maiden says exactly how the Bulldogs play in 2015 remains to be seen. “This pre-Christmas block of training is about getting to know our players and our strengths and weaknesses. We’ll develop our game plan around our players. I’ve got a number of different ideas that I’m going to bring back here – training and game wise. I’ve picked up a lot of ideas over the past few years. Coaching the rep side I got around and watched as many different coaches as I could and you see different things. And this last season, I picked up a lot at Corowa.”
2015 is clearly about building on the foundations of improvement laid last season, and recreating Turvey Park. “We’ve got to get better on and off the field,” says Maiden. “We want it to be a club that people want to come to and people want to return to. We want to be a family club again.”
Things to Look Forward to:
The club is rapt in luring Maiden home, believing he’s the right man for the times at Maher Oval. There’s no poker face on when Carroll is asked what he likes about the coach: “Everything!”
On-field, the Eastlake pair, Chad Gibson and Ash Moloney, bring plenty of experience – and therefore expectation. “We chased big Gibbo since before footy even finished,” Carroll says. “It took us a fair while to get him over. Eastlake have been pretty good to him and it was a bit of a decision for him to move. But it was getting hard for him in the NEAFL with all the extra training and travelling… he just needs to get back to enjoying his footy.”
Maiden says they’re a good fit. “Very happy – they’ve both played a good level of footy. They’ve got a lot of experience and leadership qualities. As a young group, that’s what we need.”
Campbell and Cerato are also senior players with coaching experience who will have the freedom to concentrate on their own games. And Turvey Park has also signed key positon player Chris Cooper from Ringwood in Victoria. He was a NSW/ACT Indigenous representative last year, and a regular at the Jack Atkinson carnival in recent years.
Of course, the arrival of those key recruits should only help the development of the talented young Bulldogs, and that was one of the attractions for Maiden. “I think there’s a big upside to their group. To me that’s exciting. They need some bigger bodies and experience around them – and we’ve had a bit of luck on the recruiting in that side – so I’m looking forward to seeing further improvement.”
2014 proved the RFL is a young man’s game, with Collingullie and MCUE showcasing some of the best rising talent in the region in a thrilling grand final. Carroll says Turvey at their best last season weren’t a million miles away. “The difference with us and Gullie is a couple of experienced players, a couple of guns, like they had in Arho and Aiken. It makes all the difference. We showed we could match it with them out there [in round 7]. It was only the last five minutes they beat us, when they two or three goals right at the end. It was just a bit of experience that cost us.”
