RECORD FEATURE: MCUE GOANNAS

Later this month, the Eastlakes-MCU under 15s will be invited out to Mangoplah for training and a catch-up with the Goannas seniors.
“We always have a big training night, put on a barbeque dinner and present the under 15s with an MCUE bag with their name on it,” MCUE co-coach Travis Cohalan says.
“They meet all the coaches. And their parents and whoever else wants to come out have a look at the facilities, meet the coaches, meet the players.
“We pair them up with a senior player and they train with that senior player for the night. And that senior player will go and watch two or three of their buddy’s games.”
It’s a familiar ritual aiming at making sure players coming through feel welcome as they prepare to transition into senior football. And it’s a well-trodden path, with most of the first grade side doing exactly the same thing only a few years ago.
Like Tom Keogh, now vice-captain. One of his buddies was club skipper Trent Cohalan.
“He was alright,” Keogh said. “Yeah, just say ‘alright’.”
Apart from the stirring, what Keogh remembers is how much more serious training was at senior level and understanding it was good to realise that early, before arriving for pre-season.
“It’s important for our team to do it because our junior base is all in town,” Keogh says.
“It’s a big move from Apex Park out to Mangoplah and it’s a bit daunting as a kid coming out to training. It’s a lot more serious, that’s for sure.”
Keogh is enjoying being on the other side now, as a senior player looked up to and respected. In fact, at 21 he almost feels old.
“I don’t know what’s going on, all the best players keep getting younger,” he says.
“Even Tigers, they’re all young too. I suppose it’s a different game now. That’s what my old man says anyway.”
With a youthful side, the Goannas sit third and the buddy program would have to be considered a success.
Travis Cohalan consults his team sheet for last week’s game against Leeton-Whitton before responding:
“Out of our 21, we’d have 1,2,3,4…”  And on the count goes.
“… 15, 16, 17. Seventeen out of the starting 18 were Mango juniors and 19 of the 21 that play most weeks are our own juniors.”
Reserve grade too is almost solely players who have come up through the club.
Cohalan’s partner-in-coaching, Nathon Irvin, says it’s meant a change of priorities in planning for the seasons ahead.
“We feel that recruiting is not necessarily going to be our number one focus,” Irvin says.
“It’s going to be more about retaining the players we’ve got and really, if we do that well, we shouldn’t have to do much recruiting. There’s enough talent coming through. Yes, you lose some – guys go off to uni, and travel, and do different things – but keep the core group together, those guys will come back when they come home.”
No-one’s suggesting it’s the land of milk and honey at Mangoplah, like they’ve uncovered the football’s equivalent to the elixir to eternal youth. Irvin makes it clear everyone’s feet are on the ground because there’s always room to get better.
“You’d always like to have a stronger connection with your juniors than you do,” he says.
“You still notice a gap when you bring a young guy up from the juniors to the 17s and then the 17s to seniors. You’d like to have more time with them to be honest. You could do a lot more. We’re doing okay but we’ll probably try and work out a way to do more.”
MCUE has plans for a second ground at Mangoplah which may open the door to more opportunities to bring the juniors into the fold more often.
But Irvin doesn’t hide his surprise – and admiration – for how quickly today’s teenagers have come along at Mangoplah.
“We thought we might struggle with depth a bit. We didn’t know the young guys would be as good as they have been, to be fair,” he says.
Injuries meant many players were called up for seniors earlier than expected but the Goannas came out and won their first three games against Collingullie-Glenfield Park, Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong and Leeton-Whitton.
“Then really they’ve been able to hold their spots,” Irvin says.
“We’ve rolled a couple of them back into reserves and seniors. Zach Walgers is still at school, he played with us, then he went back to ressies, then he came back up and got best on ground in his first game back. So it’s given us the depth we didn’t think we’d have.”
They’re the things that have ensured Cohalan is enjoying his first season in a senior coaching role.
“Loving it,” he says.
“I’m pretty lucky I’ve got a very good bunch of players and a very good co-coach in Nathon. They’re very coachable these players, even the senior guys. They want to learn and want to succeed… they’re very disciplined in their approach.”
Partnering junior players with a buddy and welcoming their families too helps foster a community atmosphere.
“With some new young guys that have come to the club, some of their families have been amazing with the work they’ve done,” Irvin says.
“They’re just consistently out there and that adds to the environment having parents around at training and that sort of thing and without being asked they jump in and do things, it’s really good.”
But it’s not about creating an army of helpers just to make life good for players. They too have to pull their weight, responsible for cleaning the change rooms and clubrooms each week.
“Part of building a strong team on the field is understanding the work that goes on off the field,” Cohalan says.
“We’re just getting the players to be involved and knowing how much work goes in from volunteers and then understanding that they’ve been the lucky ones who get to run out and play each week.
“At the end of the day, we’re a community footy club. We’re here to provide a good environment to the community and the people coming through the footy club. If we provide that and a learning environment and a getting-everyone-to-do-their-bit environment then the results will come on the field for sure.”
That community focus will be on display in all its pink-and-yellow glory against Wagga Tigers with first and reserve grade wearing specially-made jumpers players – thanks to the help of sponsor The Windscreen Doctor – and raising money for men’s and women’s cancer charities.
The players will buy their own guernseys while others are available for supporters to buy. More than 100 had already been sold 10 days out from the game. And raffles on the day will help add to the fundraising effort, with AFL clubs happy to help providing current signed Hawthorn and Geelong jumpers and a signed GWS training singlet. There’s also a V8s hot laps pack worth around $800.
All proceeds of the fundraising will be split between the Jane McGrath Foundation, helping support the fight against breast cancer. And the Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate (ANZUP) Cancer Trials group which conducts research to improve the treatment of bladder, kidney, testicular and prostate cancers.
www.anzup.org.au
www.mcgrathfoundation.com.au