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By: Daniel Cencic
Twitter: @DC_EFL
A significant turnover of players has seen Templestowe adopt a different direction as the club embarks on a new era this season.
The Dockers were stung by a straight-sets exit from the Division 3 finals series last season, with defeats to eventual premier Park Orchards in the qualifying final and Heathmont in the preliminary final after finishing the home and away season in third position.
Templestowe has played finals four seasons in a row, finishing runner-up in 2014 and 2016.
Senior coach Craig De Corsey admits the consecutive finals disappointments have taken a toll on his side, concluding it was time for the club to find a new direction through its youth.
“We sat down at the end of the year and we were brutally honest,” De Corsey said.
“Maybe when you get to the finals that many years in a row with the same sort of group of players it maybe scars them a little.
“We had a good, hard look at that and unfortunately a few players came to the end of their road – we’ve had a lot of retirees.”
Of the retirees, former club captain Ryan Bain has hung up the boots after a brief return to senior football in 2017. Bain has been appointed the coach of the club’s under-19s and will also serve as a senior assistant coach to De Corsey. Meanwhile, veterans Paul Fiorenza and Adam Prestigiacomo have also called it a day.
Former club captain Ryan Bain will coach the Dockers’ under-19s this season. PICTURE: TemplestoweFC.com
“They can see the direction we were taking and they backed that in,” De Corsey said.
Headlining the key transfers for the Dockers are strong-bodied midfielders Anthony and Matt Mariani (pictured below), who have joined the Whitehorse Pioneers.
While De Corsey is under no illusions of their loss, the brothers parting ways with the club was a mutual agreement.
“They were really good footy players for the club,” he said.
“We’ve been around the mark for a few years, we just haven’t quite got there.
“We felt like as much as they needed a change, we needed a change as well – a bit of a freshen up.
“We needed to look at start playing some of the youth we’ve got and giving more senior footy to those guys.
“It was a two-way street, in terms of we supported them – they were happy to move on and they went with our blessing (and) it wasn’t anything untoward.”
Leigh Murphy has also departed, re-uniting with Doncaster East after playing with the Dockers for the past three seasons, while 33-year-old Alex Wadsworth has returned to Mooroolbark.
“He (Leigh) wanted to just have one more year back with his old club to finish his footy with his mates,” De Corsey said.
“It was nothing against the footy club – he saw what we were trying to achieve in maybe a little bit more youth and he thought he’d pave the way for someone else to take up a more senior role at the club.”
Joining the club is Daniel Cripps from Perth-based club Dalwallinu, where he played 16 senior games and kicked 58 goals last season.
The brother of Carlton’s Patrick Cripps, De Corsey is confident the 25-year-old will have a significant impact this year in addition to existing players standing up.
“We’re really looking for blokes like Tom May and Alex Brown to really stand up this year and take the next step,” De Corsey said.
“’Browny’ won our best and fairest last year, had a really good year and has taken on a bit more of a leadership role as vice-captain this year.
“We’re looking at those sorts of guys who have been around the club for a few years to really take more of a leadership and senior role.”
Numbers have been strong on the track at Porter Street this pre-season, with the club’s younger brigade continuing to impress.
“It’s been really good – a lot of the young kids are coming through that played in an under-19s flag a few years back,” De Corsey said.
“We’ve had a really good, solid list of players come to just about every session so from that angle it’s been really positive.”
De Corsey believes this season to be a development year and is not putting a cap on what his new-look Dockers side can achieve.
“We haven’t put any expectations on the season – we’re not going to top four or anything like that,” he said.
“We know we’ve had a massive list change with new guys coming in and looking to our youth as well.
“With that in mind we’re very open to this year, we’re not going to say we’re going to finish top four or five – we’re going to have to see where we sit pretty early on.
“We know we’ve lost a lot of quality out of our side so this year is very much going to be a development year and something we can build on for the future.”
Templestowe hosts Boronia at Templestowe Reserve in its season-opener on Saturday, April 7.
