RIVERINA FILES: TURVEY PARK

2015 Finish: 9th
Home & Away:   0 wins; 16 losses.
Club Best & Fairest:    Jack Brooks
Best Junior:   Matt Hort
Rising Star:    Ayden Hill

Snapshot: 
It was the sort of news that Turvey Park has been crying out for 12 months… Bryce Campbell will be back in Bulldogs colours this season, and his signing was quickly followed by news that two more former Dogs were heading home, Evan Smith and David Johnson.
After a winless 2015, following a tumultuous pre-season in which the club had looked likely to fold, the Turvey faithful needed the good news as it searched for players to build a team around and inspiration upon which to build hope for the future.
Then there’s the confirmation that club best and fairest Jack Brooks won’t be departing for Albury. Work commitments will ensure he stays at Maher Oval in a further boost for the Dogs.
And the return of an under 17s team offers confidence that the rebuild is underway and a proud club is looking beyond 2016.
So, if last season was about survival, this year needs to be about regeneration and improvement. And the road ahead still looks to hold some challenges, with the new arrivals already offset by the departures of Chase Grintell and Matt Hort.

2015 Highlights
In anyone’s language, 2015 was a lean year for the Bulldogs but continuing coach Brad Burkinshaw says – the tougher the going, the more you learn. It might’ve looked tough from the outside but for those hardy souls working to keep a club alive, there was a lot to like.
“Just our commitment, to be honest,” Burkinshaw says is what impressed him most.
“From where we came from, all the boys stuck strong. That was the main thing – blokes could’ve pulled the pin halfway through, when we were struggling, but they continued on.
“Even our last training run, there was 31 there… I think it was just a great group of blokes who wanted to see the club survive and remain committed for next year.”
Burkinshaw said one of the big positives last year was that anyone who was at the club was there because they wanted to be. He pointed to the Dogs’ second last game of the season, against top three side Leeton-Whitton, as evidence of the spirit and commitment in the group.
“They beat us by 23 points, and that was after a kick after the siren… for us to still be putting out like that, I was that proud. Just to be part of the club and for the club to survive out of a bad situation.”
Throughout the season, plenty of rival clubs spoke of the dangers of underestimating Turvey after being held for a quarter or two in their previous encounters. It was just a lack of depth in terms of experience and quality that prevented them mounting too many serious four-quarter challenges.
Jack Brooks was the club’s best and fairest and he and Chase Grintell flew the flag for Turvey in the successful RFNL rep side. While Grintell has switched camps to Coolamon, Brooks will be a Bulldog again after deciding against a move to Ovens and Murray League club Albury Tigers.
“I was going to Albury and I did sign there,” Brooks said.
“But with our new work with Vinnie (Carroll) it was going to be a lot harder for me to get to training over there, so I pulled the pin.”
Josh Donaldson and Dane Campbell were also ultra consistent, with Campbell named in the Dogs’ best on 10 occasions while Donaldson was recognised eight times in his 12 games.

2015 Lowlights:  
Naturally, enduring a full season of losses was the most difficult aspect of 2015 and Burkinshaw felt it on behalf of his players.
“Not winning a game was disappointing,” he said.
“Not for me personally but for the players who put in the effort, to not win a game – that was tough.”
Tougher still for many was seeing the Bulldogs in such a precarious position to start with. The 2015 season had held plenty of promise with Troy Maiden signing on as coach and a handful of quality recruits, headlined by Chad Gibson and Ash Moloney from Canberra. But it all fell apart, with Gibson’s signing falling through due to employment and a subsequent snowball effect bringing the club to its knees.
However, the club staved off the prospect of going into recess with Burkinshaw stepping up as coach after Maiden resigned. And he still believes that the strength shown by those at the club, in the most difficult circumstances, is something that they can hang their hats on.
“The way the club started out and where it was at the start of the year, that was mainly disappointing,” Burkinshaw said.
“But from that disappointing start of the year to how we ended up… it could be the year that made the Turvey Park footy club.”
Burkinshaw points out that Turvey had 120 at their presentation night, despite not having an under 17s last season.
“It’s probably what the club needed – to find that spirit again and that pride. Everyone’s dug deep and we’ll build on it for the future.”
Brooks too says that it might have been a tough season but the coach ensured it was a good environment and an enjoyable place to be.

Surprise Packet:  
Turvey’s struggle for numbers meant quite a few players got a chance to show what they were made of and how they’d handle first grade.
Burkinshaw mentions Brodie Elworthy for his efforts at centre-half-forward as well as Kingsley Graf, Tim Doyle and Allan Ryan, who was a handy acquisition from Lockart. “He puts his head over the footy. He was our most consistent. He ended up being one of our best players and he’s one of the best blokes I’ve ever met,” Burkinshaw said.
Ayden Hill was the club’s rising star nominee while Matt Hort was named best junior, but is off to Lockhart this year.
Areas to improve:  
The difficult start to last year had an impact beyond just the devastating collapse in numbers and Burkinshaw says the focus for this season is on getting the basics right.
“Mainly our skills and decisions. Because we didn’t do a pre-season at all last year, our skills were bad and the options we took,” Burkinshaw said.
Once fatigue set in, they were unable to maintain intensity or pressure.
“At the end of each quarter we’d take some dumb decisions. Mainly we were running out of legs.”
Even though his game time is likely to be limited, the presence of Campbell back at the club will be a huge asset. The former Corowa-Rutherglen coach has plenty to offer the club and its young players.
Burkinshaw also has the support of Stephen Carroll who will coach the club’s under 17s after being in charge of the under 15s last season. He said the former senior coach will be a massive help to him as well, while having the depth of the 17s will also make a big difference.

What to look forward to in 2016:  
Well before Campbell and co. landed, Burkinshaw was anticipating just how much it would mean to the players who stuck out a long season to find out some quality players would be heading to Maher Oval.
It took longer than anticipated but it was worth the wait. Campbell, who was contacted by virtually every club in the Riverina after moving home to Wagga, said that he’d considered taking the year off football altogether before electing to return to the club he won a flag with in 2002.
Now 31, and having played just 20 games in the last four seasons due to injury, Campbell’s appearances in the familiar Bulldogs colours could be limited. But Burkinshaw is looking forward to what he’ll bring off the field as well as on it. He says the midfielder who played eight games with the Adelaide Crows (2007-08) and more than 100 SANFL matches for Norwood is probably the most experienced player in the league and his insights and contributions will be invaluable.
Fellow midfielder David Johnson has spent the past two years with Sydney University, including playing eight NEAFL games in 2014. Able to play just about anywhere, Johnson brings experience and ability, along with Evan Smith who is also returning from a stint in Sydney and then Wollongong.
The ruckman/centre-half-forward also has NEAFL experience after five games in 2014, as well as kicking 42 goals in 15 games in the Sydney league. Smith spent last season with Wollongong in the NSW South Coast league and a regular in their best as he kicked 49 goals in 13 games.
Burkinshaw said he intends to use Smith up forward where he’ll make an ideal target up, along with Andrew Noack (ex-Coleambally) as they look to ensure that opposing teams find themselves under some scoreboard pressure this season.
And the retention of Jack Brooks is as good as a new signing for Turvey Park at this stage of the pre-season, as the rep player had committed to another crack at the O&M. But after the change in circumstances at work, he’s looking forward to hopefully being a part of Turvey’s turnaround.
“Hopefully we can win a few games, and be a bit more competitive than we have been the last couple of years,” Brooks said.
“We’ve had most of the 17s at training so there’s a lot more people around the club, which we needed, and with Bryce Campbell rocking up – with his AFL knowledge, to help out at training and game day, it should be pretty good to be around the club.”