RIVERINA FILES: GGGM

  

GANMAIN-GRONG GRONG-MATONG
2014 Finish:  5th
Home & Away:  7 wins; 9 losses.
Finals Form:  Lost elimination final to Wagga Tigers.
Club Best & Fairest:   Jayden Kotzur 
Club Rising Star Award:   Lachie Parker
Telstra Rising Star:   Lachie Parker

Snapshot: 
Lions coach Jayden Kotzur sums up the season in just a few words: “It was a pretty frustrating year really.” GGGM finished fifth and, while never really in danger of missing the finals, the longer the season went on the harder it was to imagine them matching the four sides above them on the ladder. And that was the way it panned out, losing their last two games of the home-and-away season – to MCUE (10 goals) and Wagga Tigers (8 goals) – before exiting the finals in the first week after another loss to Tigers (7 goals).
Ganmain had three wins in the first four rounds, but failed to win consecutive matches again for the rest of the year. And the Lions failed to beat a fellow finals team all season. “We were able to match it with most sides until halftime, sometimes three-quarter time, sometimes right up to the last five minutes, but we just couldn’t win them,” Kotzur says.
To be fair, the Lions were up against it from this time last year, when gun ruckman Jacob Olsson was offered an opportunity to test himself in the SANFL. The club wouldn’t stand in the way of a promising footballer wanting to better himself but it can exact a toll. Kotzur won’t make excuses for their season now, but in an interview during the year admitted it had been a setback. “Losing your number one player hurt us immensely. We didn’t really have any to get someone, players are locked up by then, so that changed the whole make-up of the team,” he said.
Given the lack of talls on their list, it was always going to be a challenge for GGGM’s season to reach any great heights. And it’s no surprise that’s been the focus of the recruiting campaign for 2015.
Local juniors James Lawton and Josh Walsh and former Eastlake (Canberra) footballer Billy Watt were all confirmed this week. And there’s the addition of experience with Nathan ‘Poke’ McPherson returning home from Lockhart, and his old coach, Jake Wooden, also Ganmain-bound.

Highlights: 
It was a year of testing depth at Ganmain, with 35-odd players being used throughout the season. While that didn’t help with consistency (see ‘lowlights’!), it did offer an opportunity to fast-track the education of young players and get a look at how they handled senior football.
Kotzur says there’s always enjoyment in watching players grow in experience and understand what it takes to play first grade. He says footballers who ordinarily wouldn’t have made the senior team were given golden opportunities to show what they’re capable of. And there should be some pay-off in 2015. “Hopefully we can bring up guys who are going to be able to play consistent footy at senior level for more than two or three weeks.”
The Lions’ seven wins may have all come against teams below them on the ladder but they weren’t completely outclassed by the top four all year. There was a patch in the middle of the year – from round seven to round 14 – when Kotzur’s troops were more than competitive against the big guns but missed the premiership points… against MCUE (18 points), Tigers (3 points), Coolamon (3 points) and Collingullie (17 points).

Lowlights:  
If there was one game that summed up a disappointing season for Ganmain, it was the heritage ‘return to Matong’ match against Narrandera. There was great excitement about taking a game to the old stamping ground of Matong – and in a Magpies strip, no less. Past players were primed for the occasion, with reunion celebrations for both the 1984 and 2004 premiership teams. However, it was a major letdown on the field when the Eagles – arch-enemies of the Magpies back in the day – sprang an upset. The nine-goal loss was Ganmain’s only defeat by a team below them on the ladder, and highlighted the coach’s biggest concern about 2014.
““Consistency was one thing that let us down,” Kotzur says. “Not really having any height – at either end of the ground – also let us down. But playing 35-36 players is probably not ideal, and that’s where we struggled a bit. We couldn’t get a rounded team on the park… chopping and changing every week.”

Surprise Packet:  
Lachie Parker was the standout youngster, being the Lions’ nominee for the Telstra Rising Star and also winning the club’s in-house rising star award.
But for the element of surprise, Kotzur is full of praise for two emerging footballers. “Tom Noble and Jack McCaig were great young kids who got senior games experience after playing brilliantly in the thirds. Keep an eye out for them this year!”

Areas to improve:  
GGGM’s recruitment campaign should go a long way towards driving improvement next season, particularly addressing experience and height (or lack thereof). More on what they’ll bring below in What to Look Forward to. However, consistency is also going to be a clear objective.
“I think it comes down to those four or five games that we lost [narrowly],” says Kotzur. “If we win those, they’re the years that you’re around about the mark. Maybe we weren’t good enough, or not good enough in certain situations…”
Working on ways to drive home success in winnable situations will be a priority. “There were very few blowouts. We’ll be trying to work on a couple of things in the pre-season… having that belief to win games.”
It may come as a relief to players pondering pre-season that the coach believes their undoing wasn’t conditioning, but the combination of youth and inexperience. “I think it’s more to do with maturity. I think the fitness side wasn’t to blame. I just think there were some guys that are just learning the game.”
As for where they need to get to, Kotzur says a memorable grand final between Mangoplah-CUE and Collingullie sets a high standard. “It was a cracking game. Absolutely, Mangoplah and Gullie I think were the best teams in it all year. They were the most consistent teams and the most damaging teams – in five minutes, they can put four or five goals on any team. I can’t see Gullie dropping off – they’ll go in as the benchmark. And I think you might see a few teams change their plan against them.”
Educating his own young players will be part of that process. “It’s all a work in progress. We’ve just got to teach them more where to run.”
The club will also need to compensate for the losses of the respected Daniel Rankin (retirement) and Matt Clarke, who’s headed back to Osborne.

What to Look Forward To:
Apart from those two key departures, GGGM has pretty well kept its list together – including the likes of Mitch and Curtis Steele – and added some experience. The arrival from Lockhart of Nathan McPherson and Jake Wooden will bring plenty of leadership, which will be as valuable to Kotzur as it will be beneficial to the younger players on the list still learning their trade. Kotzur was the club’s best and fairest in 2014 and with additional support next season he should be able to make a major personal contribution again.
McPherson is not the only familiar surname returning to GGGM, following the signings of James Lawton and Josh Walsh… both local juniors who will play key positions.
Lawton has been plying his trade in South Australia in recent years. A 23-year old with SANFL and VFL experience, he’s set to make a big impression on his return to the Riverina. “He won a premiership as a 17-year old,” says Kotzur. “A very athletic player who will play forward for us.”
Then there’s Walsh who was with Queanbeyan last season but released to play three games with the Lions. He’s back for a full season and his versatility will be a big bonus, with the coach liking the fact that Walsh can play just about anywhere on the ground.
Billy Watt is another who will give the Lions options. He’s a former best and fairest winner at Canberra club Eastlake, who spent last year at Lockhart. Kotzur says, “Again, he will add some height. He’s played down back and up forward and will chip out in the ruck if needed.”
That may not be the end of the recruiting…. And did we mention talls? “Hopefully there’ll be another one or two players on top of that, with a little more height on that, to balance out the side.”
With those additions, there’ll be the opportunity to bring out the best in the emerging talent already at Ganmain… those players given valuable initiation into senior football last season. And a coach always enjoys seeing players find their feet in first grade. “By the time they get to 30 or 40 games they’re starting to become regular senior players. They’re comfortable with having their spots in the side and they don’t worry as much about it. They can just concentrate on their games.”