St John’s primed after frustrating 2014

– Brenton Mann

After narrowly missing finals in both 2013 and 2014 St John’s Old Collegians are intent on not letting 2015 be another year of frustration and missed opportunities.

The club under-went a coaching restructure during the off-season, which saw former premiership coach Ben McGee return to the club with renewed hope and vigour.

McGee coached the club to its inaugural premiership in 2005 and holds high aspirations for the club moving forward.

“There has always been a romance with the footy club, I’m an old St John’s boy, whilst I never played at the club” McGee said.

“The philosophy is quite simply that we build a competitive club that can push itself to the limit.”

“I think Dandenong is ready to have strong VAFA club and that’s us, if we do it well, if we get the buy in from our players and officials” McGee said.

The ultimate goal for the club is to move up into the Premier grades of the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) but McGee realises a lot has to happen for that to be achieved.

McGee has instilled a simple set of standards that the playing group must adhere to for the club to achieve on-field success.

“Effort, effort is pretty important, care in what you’re doing, knowing your role and being able to execute fundamentals, they’re the things you just can’t avoid on a footy field.”

They’re are the “non-negotiables”.

Increasing the playing list’s fitness base has been a goal from session one and McGee believes the playing group’s well on its way to achieving this.

“We’ve been talking about new game plans and obviously with any game plan, if you want to execute it well, there has to be a base level of fitness” McGee said.

“In saying that, being in the third week of February, we’re tracking nicely for all that to be delivered.”

Strong and loyal characters are required for St John’s to take the necessary steps in 2015, and player retention is a challenge facing the majority of VAFA clubs.

“The first rule of good club management is retainment, and a great example is a guy like Corey Ely” McGee said.

“We could have lost him to one of the leagues that pays players, but we’ve retained him, so that says to me that we’re doing something right in regards to our club policy.”

“On a more player based grading, we want to be seen to be bringing in new players to the current group, players that can provide benefit to the club both on and off the ground” McGee said.

Heading the list of recruits for 2015 is ex-Elsternwick spearhead Aaron Thornton who kicked over 200 goals in his last three seasons and will add another dimension to an already potent forward line.

The club also welcomed back ’05 premiership player John Ryan who will add a touch of aerial class up forward and through the midfield.

The club has had a productive off-season in regards to recruiting and all have improved the playing list in one way or another.

Whilst reuniting with veterans such as Kane Arnold and Adam Jones was a lure for McGee, it’s been St John’s Sudanese contingent that has really impressed.

“So as far as impression goes, it’s hard to go past Manny (Emmanuel Jakwot), as well as Guy Chuoll and John Ayama” McGee said.

“There’s no doubt about it that one of our big pushes is our multiculturalism and in Dandenong we have a strong Sudanese community and I find that the African Australian boys have got a great affiliation and symmetry with the game, they compete hard.”

“Those boys are our link into the Sudanese community further, and I’d like to see our club become the home of the Sudanese boys of Dandenong that want to play footy” McGee said.

The club is also excited to welcome Beletti Restaurant Café Bar on-board as its new major sponsor and look forward to a long and prosperous relationship.

The club launches its 25 year Anniversary and 2015 campaign with a corporate lunch held on the 27^th of March between 12–4pm at St Mary’s Community Centre, New St Dandenong.

Headlining the event are former VFL/AFL premiership players Glenn Archer and Mark Maclure as well as international T20 cricket coach Simon Helmot.

For further details contact the club at [email protected] or 0439 969 275.