FARRER FILES: NORTHERN JETS
2014 Finish: 6th
Home & Away: 5 wins; 11 losses
Club Best & Fairest: Dane Keenes
Club Best First Year Player: Mitch Maguire
Telstra Rising Star: Mitch Maguire
Snapshot:
There’s a buzz building around the Northern Jets. “They’re talking footy before Christmas, that’s usually unheard of,” says president Brett Prentice. “This is as good a feeling as I’ve seen around the club, and I’ve been on the committee the whole time at the Jets [formed in 2004].” New coach Darren Jackson brings plenty of enthusiasm himself, and that’s proving infectious at a club itching to get back to former glory… 82 people showed up to the Christmas Party on Sunday! They’d catered for 50, but who minds missing out on a sausage because there are too many supporters at your club? No-one, when the buzz is back.
Speaking of snags, Jackson has a story: “I had a lot to do with Allan Jeans and he used to say ‘Footballers are like sausages… There are only about four things you can do with them – boil ’em, fry ’em, bake ’em, or grill ’em. At the end of the day they’re still sausages. It’s the same with footballers – you’ve got to identify what they can do, but you can’t turn them into something they’re not.”
Last season wasn’t the worst of times for the Jets, but it wasn’t the best either… just one of those years when a horror run of injuries exposed a lack of depth. Coach Stu Hutchins thought he had a team that could match the top sides, if only they could be on the field at the same time. But he was left cursing a run of bad luck that meant they rarely were, and when the replacements of senior players were getting injured, it was a case of being as competitive as possible and getting through the season with reputation and spirit intact.
Hutchins enjoyed the reward of playing a part in the development of talented young footballers but stepped aside as coach at the end of the season due to his farming and family commitments.
The Jets opened a door to senior coaching for Jackson. A 300-gamer at Finley who played VFL with Tom Hafey’s Geelong in 1984, he has history with the Jets. “From 2005, I ran the bench with Matt Hard and Nigel Smith. I had an absolute ball, it’s a great club, unbelievable club, and I always wanted to get back there.” Although involved as coach and coordinator with the Murray League representative team in recent years, work commitments prevented Jackson pursuing a club coaching job before now.
The Jets liked his vast experience, and having played at the highest level. And the timing feels right, coming 10 years after the club’s premiership. “I’m committed to the job. I won’t be walking away without making a go of it… I’ll be here for 10 years if that’s what it takes,” says Jackson.
The Jets have been active in recruitment with Jackson bringing one of his sons, Marcus, with him. He’ll also have a well-known and highly regarded playing assistant, with the club welcoming Sam Fisher home from Temora. There’s also the hope of more to come after Christmas, with Jackson on the verge of confirming some handy recruits out of Darwin. More on the signings in “What to Look Forward to…“
Highlights:
The quality of their youth was clearly the bright spot of 2014 for the Jets. When asked during the year about his first season as a senior coach, Hutchins was full of pride in the ability, spirit and respect shown by his young charges. That group was headlined by rising stars Mitch Maguire and Lachie Flagg, but recognition of the effort of teenagers ran deeper… and Jackson is excited by their prospects. “We’ve got some great kids… like Jayden McLean, Benny Johnstone, Patrick Bray… there’s six or seven good kids really training the house down.”
“We had Under 17s for the first time in a number of years,” says Prentice. “And they had a pretty good year [finishing runners-up to North Wagga]. We blooded a fair few of them to give them a taste. Even though we struggled a bit, there were only a couple of times we were thrashed. Most of the time we were competitive, certainly through to halftime, before it took its toll and the better teams got on top.”
Prentice also has high praise for Hutchins. “He did a very good job really – with what we had. He got a bad injury himself too. We thought maybe he mightn’t play this year, but he’s got to training and he’ll have some sort of leadership role with the club. He was very good with the young blokes. We just have to try to hold onto them.”
Lowlights:
Running thin on numbers, the Jets couldn’t afford any bad luck. But bad luck they got and when the injury list began to lengthen, it was a tough ask to compete with the top teams. The president sums up the situation in a couple of short sentences: “We just didn’t have enough depth. We started off alright, then the injuries came and with no depth, we just struggled. We never really got going then.”
Resilience is part of the identity at Ariah Park-Mirrool and Ardlethan, but the club made a decision that it wasn’t going to roll along in the same vein next season. “We’ve got really good members. They’re always there for us. We weren’t getting massacred and we were winning occasional games, but we just felt this year we had to do something different… we needed to build up.”
Surprise Packet:
Mitch Maguire won the Jets’ best first year player award and was the club’s rising star nominee. But that doesn’t convey just how a good a year he had; beyond expectation. “He was runner-up in our best and fairest,” says Prentice. “At the start of the year we thought we’ll play him. He’s not real big either, but to come runner-up at 16… that’s the big surprise. He’s an exceptional talent.”
Maguire and Lachie Flagg are the names that come to the conversation very quickly in any discussion about the Jets and Prentice says they show a maturity beyond their years. “Very good skills. Very dedicated to training. Lachie and Mitch are in the academy squads so they’re always training and were probably the fittest in the club. But their attitudes are very good. They’re always positive. And they can be told things and they’ll go and do out and do it. They show the way really.”
Areas to Improve:
As Prentice mentioned, the Jets committee felt an obligation to repay its members and players with a better 2015. “At the end of the year, we realised we needed to address a few problems. We were a bit short in key position players… so we’ve strengthened the midfield and on-ballers. We needed to be a bit stronger down the middle – a backman, and a few more targets and kicking options. That was the other thing, we just couldn’t kick a winning score.”
As well as bolstering the playing stocks (more on that below), in Jackson the Jets have a coach itching to make his mark on a club. “Skill level… skill will beat fitness or anything else you want to throw at me. Doesn’t matter how fit you are, if you haven’t got the skills, you might as well be at the pub playing darts. And there are no individuals. It’s not golf or tennis. You want to be an individual, go and play one of those. I played under Tom Hafey, and he instilled stuff like that in you – no individuals.”
Through his contacts, Jackson has arranged for himself and Sam Fisher to head to Richmond in January where they’ll spend time at training and in team meetings learning from the likes of Damien Hardwick and Mark Williams. The playing group will also head to Yarrawonga in early February for a training camp with the Ovens & Murray League powerhouse.
“Footy’s pretty basic now – running. It’s all about the run, and the back-up. And in the end, it’s a game of keepings off when you’ve got the ball. And when it’s in dispute, you’ve got to get it more times than they do.
“But I don’t get carried away. We’ve got a lot of ground to make up, don’t worry. The Jets have been down since we won the final [in 2005] so we’re not getting ahead of ourselves. And we’ve got a tough start to the year… we’ve got The Rock away, Marrar away, then we have our first game at home against Temora. But you don’t whinge about it, just get on with it.”
What to Look Forward to:
Prentice mentioned recruitment, which he says is also driven by wanting as many locals as possible back at the club. The first step was Sam Fisher’s return home (who also brings Brad Moye) after three premiership wins at Temora – including a best on ground in the grand final this year. Jackson is keen to give his assistant plenty of responsibility. “There’ll be a few games where it’ll be up to him. I’ll just be in the background. The point of an assistant coach is to get him involved, and to teach him. And he’s got that grand final experience. A lot of our players haven’t played in premierships.”
“It’s a bonus having Sam,” says Prentice. “He spent four years there, and played under Kruger. He was a number one target for us to come back. He’s got brothers and cousins in the team and they’re all itching to play together.”
Mitch Haddrill is back, after heading to WA for work midway through last season. Jackson says Ben Gaynor is also returning from the Diamond League. Coolamon’s Mitch Robinson and Kurt Stubenrach have signed, while Ciaran O’Rourke (Eastlake) is joining his brother Declan at the Jets.
Jackson will also be coaching one of his sons, Marcus (“We’ll see how that goes!”) who played for Vic Country two years ago and has represented the Murray League the last two years. The 21 year old is about to head to Darwin season to play the backend of the season with Nightcliff, and will be a key man in defence for the Jets on his return. “It’s different footy in the Murray League, it’s very fast and open on big grounds, so I think it will be a bit different for him. But he’ll be fully match-fit when he comes back here in mid-March ready to play.”
Darwin could provide more than Jackson’s fitness for the Jets… Darren believes he has two or three key players all-but signed, who will be valuable additions to the Farrer League. He’s heading to the Top End to secure signatures, and is reluctant to publicly announce anything until the deal is done.
But he’s not afraid to stir up talking points on his return to AFL Riverina… “I look at the Farrer League and I class it between Picola and Murray League, which is a major league. With the players coming in, I think it’s going to be a very good league. I’d love to take on the Riverina Football League – I seriously reckon we’d beat ’em.”
As for what that means in terms of the challenge facing the Jets: “We’ve got to get up to the Temora’s and the East Waggas. I say, what fantastic things Temora have done – amazing story – we have to get to their level. You don’t sit there and whinge and whine, you’ve got to get off your backside and match them.”
