FARRER FILES: TEMORA KANGAROOS

2015 Result:   5th (finished 4th on the ladder, but lost in first week of finals)

Home & Away:   9 wins; 7 losses
Finals Form:   Lost elimination final to Coleambally

Club Best & Fairest:    Robbie Drummond
Best First Year Player:  Zac Wiencke
Rising Star:    Jacob Turner

Snapshot: 
The Kangaroos shaped as an unknown quantity in 2015 after a significant turnover of players and a new coach following their third straight flag.
It was hard to pick how they’d stack up and that remained the case for most of the season, with some really strong performances interspersed with games where they didn’t look up to the top sides. Bowing out in the first week of finals after consecutive losses to Coleambally was a disappointing finish but probably summed up their season – a little more consistency and they would’ve enjoyed the second chance in finals rather than find themselves in a sudden-death dogfight, in which they were up against it after key injuries.
Heading into 2016 is a different scenario with Christin Macri in charge of a playing group he has a pretty good handle on, and one which knows what the coach wants.
The retirement of veteran Chris Block is offset by the promise shown by the club’s emerging stars.
And there’s the recruitment of four experienced Canberra footballers, headed by Sam Jensen and Kieran Shea who are coming off a NEAFL season with Eastlake. Previously with Queanbeyan they’re bringing two key forwards with them (of which, more below).
The future of key forward Matt Wallis is up in the air after a change of job, and fellow spearhead Matt Harpley is still recovering from a knee reconstruction. While ruckman Dominic Joyce is heading home to Ireland but a replacement landed in their lap when Anthony Aitken moved to town earlier this year. And the Kangaroos have hinted more announcements could be imminent, giving every indication they’ll be well in contention next year.

Highlights: 
Heading into 2015 without Sam Fisher, Tim Macauley, the Moyes, Josh Hagar, Mark Kruger and Zeik Johnston, the Kangaroos always had a rebuild on their hands. And the bright point of the season was undoubtedly how far their young players came in a season.
Development was a reason the Roos hired Macri and the coach was delighted with what the players showed.
“Probably the development of the young guys like Zac Wiencke, Paddy Walker, Lachie Pellow,” Macri said when asked his season highlight.
“They all got a lot of games in the second half of the year. Simon Turner was another who moved along really well and Rob Krause. We got some games into Jack Gerhard.
“That’s the pleasing part – you develop the list and the kids within the town. And they earned their games. They earned them on merit.”
In a season of highs and lows, the pick of the Roos’ results came against The Rock-Yerong Creek in round 13, which not only breathed life into their season after they’d dropped out of the top five, but suggested they were capable of doing some damage in the run home.
And a big win over another top three contender, North Wagga, a fortnight later sustained a five-week winning streak which restored self-confidence.

Lowlights:  
Belief, or lack of it, was the biggest issue.
Temora’s season ended in disappointment although it wasn’t particularly the game at Ganmain against Coleambally – which they were in control of for the most part but failed to kick clear, only to see the Blues storm over the top in the last quarter.
It was the week before, the final round of the home-and-away season at Coleambally, that really hurt. Sitting third, the Roos were in position to consolidate a second chance in the finals. They knew full well that Coleambally had their tails up as they chased an unlikely finals berth and were going to be up for the contest.
“I couldn’t fault our effort in the final, but I could the week before,” Macri said.
It had severe ramifications for their finals campaign, but also hurts because it summed up their biggest issue all year – consistency.
“Our best was quite exciting and then for some reason, maybe belief, we’d go away from it,” Macri said.
“We didn’t have that inner belief to stay strong and go on with it.
Matt Harpley’s ACL injury was a massive blow. Against Barellan on the 1st of August, just as the Roos were building towards finals, the knee injury ended his season. A bye and two losses to Coly followed, and the season was over. Harpley’s recovery will impact 2016 too, with his rehabilition from the reconstruction surgery to track well into next year.
There was a lowpoint mid season too, in the depths of winter as the competition turned the corner towards finals. In round 10 Gumly Oval, the Roos were belted by East Wagga. Held scoreless in the first term they were down by eight goals at quarter time and 10 goals at halftime, on the way to a 86-point hiding. A week later they were rolled in a dour struggle at Marrar and dropped out of the top five.

Surprise Packet:  
The performance of teenaged winger Zac Wiencke in the elimination final was that of a seasoned footballer. In a losing team, he was a standout (along with Matt Wallis and Dom Joyce). Despite the disappointment of losing it was an individual effort that summed up an exciting season.
“It’s hard say (who was a surprise) because I didn’t really know these guys before,” Macri said.
“But Zac Wiencke, right from the pre-season when we got the balls out, I thought – this kid’s got a bit. His size was an initial concern but his pre-season just demanded he be playing pre-season praccie games. It was just about him doing it on the field. I kept telling him to take it on and once he realised he wasn’t going to get smashed, he really developed really quickly.”
Jacob Turner was the club’s Rising Star nominee mid-season but Wiencke won the Kevin Bett Memorial Trophy for Temora’s best first year player.
Areas to improve:  
Although Temora lost a few close games, Macri is convinced it was attitude and experience rather than fitness.
“Throughout the year we had nine wins, eight losses – and we finished where we should’ve finished. We had a lot of tight losses and who knows what it was but our guys had that belief one week and then didn’t the next.”
That game against The Rock at Temora was the high-point but the trick now is cloning those performances.
“Our hard-nosed attitude that day from start to finish was really pleasing. After that Rock game I thought, these guys really know what’s required now. We had a good run late in the season and let it slip at Coly. That’s something I’ll be working on in the off-season.”
Heading into his second season, and knowing more about his players, Macri is looking forward to working more with individuals in the pre-season. He added that the Canberra signings were greeted warmly by his players who were keen to see some depth added to their list.

What to look forward to:  
If the development of youth was a highlight for Temora then there’s anticipation about continued improvement next season, particularly with the addition of seasoned campaigners.
Midfielder Sam Jensen is coming off a complete NEAFL season with Eastlake while Kieran Shea (half-back/on-baller) played the majority of games. His brother, key forward Tim, missed 2015 due to injury but was a premiership player with Queanbeyan the previous year. While Daniel Hespe is another Queanbeyan key forward who played the first half of last season with the Canberra premiership-winning club before travelling overseas.
“On our best (last year) we were really strong and with the development in our players, adding four guys of quality will take pressure off some of those kids who had to play key roles,” Macri said.
There’s a buzz around Jensen, who’s a small and powerful midfielder who was playing first grade for Queanbeyan as a teenager. He’ll offer some outside speed to a team that was relying heavily on Wiencke for that last season.
The biggest drawback of travelling recruits is not having them at training but Macri – who coached Jensen and Tim Shea in his previous role with the GWS Giants Academy – is confident they won’t let anyone down.
“They’re all good guys and that’s important. They’re all friends, they’ll travel across together and they’re a good age, in their young 20s.
“The other real positive is they’re NEAFL quality, a couple of the boys have had a go at that level and they know what’s required to play at that level. (Training expectations) will be a conversation between me and them and at the end of the day, performances will tell the story.”
Macri said he was keen on Tim Shea when looking for a key forward to cover for Harpley, to ease the pressure on his recovery. With Matt Wallis’ future not sealed at Temora following a change in employment, he jumped at the chance to grab a second tall forward in Hespe.
There’s also the addition of ruckman Anthony Aitken, a representative player with the Black Diamond League in Newcastle who was also named in the league’s team of the year last season. He offers a readymade replacement for Dominic Joyce who is heading home to Ireland.
 The Roos believe they’ll be in a position to challenge the likes of The Rock-Yerong Creek and East Wagga-Kooringal but are making no assumptions.
Macri points out that premiers TRYC have improved with two key backmen, while the Hawks have pulled off a coup in convincing gun RFL midfielder Chris Gordon to switch leagues.
Temora president Darryl Harpley: “I’m just looking at how close the comp’s going to be. We add a bit of depth for next year and that makes it more competitive as well so I think it’ll be a very close comp. The Rock, East Wagga… then North Wagga, Coly and the Jets have recruited. I think it’ll be a fantastic competition.”