Turvey Park on the mend

By James Matthey

With 10 senior premierships to its name and a recent Grand Final appearance in 2010, you would think that Turvey Park would be flying high among the elite of the Riverina Football League (RFL).

However, for an organisation with such a proud record of success, the past couple of years have been anything but smooth sailing for the Riverina club.

Four consecutive years of playing finals football (2007-2010) and an Under-17s premiership in 2011 were distant memories for the Bulldogs after one of the most challenging periods in the club’s 55-year history.

In 2011 and 2012, the club suffered the ignominy of “winning” two wooden spoons, claiming just two victories in that period.

At one stage, the survival of the club was in serious doubt, leading to crisis talks being held in June 2011 to discuss how they were going to overcome the problems of player departures and a dwindling volunteer base.

Turvey Park President, Vinnie Carroll, said the club was dogged with problems involving player retention.

“There have been 31 players that have left in that two-year period (2010-2012),” said Carroll.

“We just had nothing, we had kids, more or less, and we’ve been relying on kids for the last two years.

“We had a lot of players, but we just didn’t have key players.”

Carroll also said that the club was plagued by poor off-field organisation during this time.

“The thing is, off-field, we only had a certain amount of supporters, and when I came to the club (in 2011) there were only four people on the committee, four workers,” said Carroll.

“We just couldn’t get people to help with organising or the canteen or just anything to help run the club, it just seemed so hard to get people to volunteer.

“Relying on two or three people to do the same thing every week, they just got burnt out.”

However, a turning point for the Bulldogs’ fortunes could prove to be their Round 2 upset win over arch-rivals Wagga Tigers, their first win since August 2011.

“To get a win like that just lifted the morale of everyone, and it’s just seemed to snowball from there,” said Carroll.

Another vital ingredient to the club’s resurgence is the signing of former junior Chris Cerato to the role of captain-coach, who Carroll said was moved to return to his former home after witnessing the dire position that Turvey Park was in.

“This year we’ve signed up Chris Cerato who’s a former local junior,” said Carroll.

“When we interviewed him he just said he couldn’t stand seeing the club in the position that it was and he wanted to get us back up to where we should be, that was his big drive to come back.

“Getting Chris back, a former junior, he just wanted to come back and help the club out.”

However, while Cerato’s return has provided a much needed boost for the club, it remains a constant battle to attract the best talent in the Riverina.

“That’s the biggest battle, when you’re down it’s very hard to attract players,” said Carroll.

“From the Under-17s on, they seem to either go to uni or get jobs elsewhere, a couple of our good kids have been poached by other clubs.”

Despite these challenges, Carroll is hopeful of recruiting even more experienced players in key positions.

“We’re trying to get a few key players, bigger bodied blokes, and then the young blokes can just run around them and feed off them, that’s what our aim is.

“Our biggest thing is we need to pick our key players, and that’s what we’re going to be chasing this year and next year.

“This year we’ve already started talking to a few players, and with a couple more on-ballers and another key forward, I think we’d be very competitive.”

The key word for Carroll here is “competitive.” For him, one of the most important things is to restore some faith in those players who don the blue and red each week.

“At least we can look forward to being very competitive, last year the players used to go out and they’d think ‘how much are we going to get beaten by today,’ that was the attitude because they knew we just didn’t have the players, we just had kids lining up in key positions.

“Every game we know we’re going to be competitive, that’s what our aim is this year, to be competitive and hopefully win a few games throughout the year.”

Further to his on-field ambitions, Carroll is also determined to ensure the club’s off-field structure continues to improve.

“The biggest thing is just the change in players off the field coming back and helping, that’s been the biggest thing since I’ve been here.

“This year at least we’ve got a few blokes with different ideas and we’ve got a couple of women on board.

“We’ve got to get stronger off-field and make it a club where everyone wants to be there, and that’s what we’ve sort of been pushing.”

Boasting local juniors like Geelong premiership winner Cameron Mooney and Sydney Swans young-gun Harry Cunningham, Turvey Park will no doubt be hoping to unearth a few more future AFL stars within their ranks in the coming years.

Turvey Park’s next game is against Mangoplah CUE on Saturday May 11 at Maher Oval.