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Thursday, March 28, 2013
Footy Countdown Kalkee
Kees comfortable as favourites T
By DEAN LAWSON
HIGH FIVE: Kalkee president Dean Johns, coach Matt Beddison and captain Paul Christian with the spoils of a successful 2012 season.
alk casually with any Horsham District Football League supporter and the conversation will ultimately involve a simple but profound declaration. It will go something like: ‘regardless of what happens this season, Kalkee already has one hand on the premiership’ or ‘you may as well dust off the premiership cup and give it to them now’ and so on. It is true that the reigning premier looms as big if not bigger and more powerful than previous years and it seems on the surface at least that the early predictions might be close to the mark. It’s a curious circumstance, particularly for the Kalkee coaching group which has to develop creative motivational strategies. But if the build has worried Kees coach Matt Beddison it certainly doesn’t show. In fact the pragmatic Beddison said this week that the motivation was simple – to continue to back up the hard work of club volunteers be successful for the next five to 10 years. He said talk about Kalkee being red-hot premiership favourites weeks out from the first game meant little. “For us it’s not really relevant, especially a couple of weeks away from the first game. Our focus has to
Picture: WILLAMY IMAGES
Coaches
Seniors: Matt Beddison Reserves: Lindsay Hobbs, Daniel Robinson Under-17s: Damian Thomson Under-14s: John Goldsmith Auskick: Phil Mills 2012 result: Premier, W17, L2
and develop our junior personnel but in saying that we have been pretty lucky with our recruiting.
be game by game. We know that we are the hunted so we have to take that next step to stay on top,” he said. “From a club point of view you work so hard from a coaching panel and committee level to develop club success. You then want to enjoy the success and you don’t want to take the foot off after working so hard to get there.” Beddison guaranteed that his camp was under few illusions that there remained a tough season ahead.
“As I said, we are the hunted so we have to stay a step ahead and stay there as long as possible. That means working on strength and consistency. Believe me; it’s better to be in this position than to be struggling.”
Recruits Kalkee has earned ‘unbackable favourite’ tag during the pre-season after confirmation that Schultz brothers Steve and Grant were returning from Warrack Eagles and others including Aaron Barnett and Damian Thomson
wish all football and netball teams the best of luck for the 2013 season! r
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were on the list. Throw in others such as Ben Hobbs, Andrew Brown, Ashley Hastie and Lachie Robinson and there is suddenly a fresh look about the Kees. Beddison: “We’ve worked so hard on developing our juniors and they have had the benefit of experiencing senior success and they, as the future of the club, are probably our numberone priority. “We’re not really about recruiting a heap of players – more just to keep
“New players create more depth and give us the potential to push guys harder and demand more consistency from them. Barring injury, we’re going to have guys fighting for positions all year. “We’re blessed in having good tall players and our game for the last couple of years has been based around those guys. A key has been to find smaller, running players to complement them. “The fact that we’ve had injection of new players has created a fresh sense of urgency and excitement. The group has revelled in the extra pressure for players to hold spots and created more enthusiasm.”
Bigham Transport Maintenance Wishes the Kalkee Football Netball Club all the best for the 2013 season 'Go the Kees'
Phone: (03) 5382 5893 Address: Golf Course Rd, Horsham, VIC 3400