Brunswick NOBS coach hopes absence makes the heart grow fonder for separated players
While COVID-19 has robbed local footy players of the chance to connect face-to-face, Brunswick NOBS coach Tim O’Dwyer has been working hard to ensure his players remain connected.
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While they can’t come together physically, Brunswick NOBS coach Tim O’Dwyer believes this year can strengthen his playing group’s bond.
After a “really exciting pre-season” the VAFA Division 1 club has been limited to online trivia nights and workouts due to the COVID-19 lockdown.
O’Dwyer has re-committed for 2021 and been working hard behind the scenes to keep his players engaged and connected without football.
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“The club’s done a great job, they’ve had a couple of trivia nights, and Matt Roberts was running our online workouts for our players,” he said.
“Personally, I was just checking to see how everyone was going – just trying to connect and keep everyone together – that’s one of the biggest challenges.
“We’ve got a lot of new players and we want to make sure they hang around next year.
“We have a few guys from interstate that were going to play for us who don’t really have that network around them, so it’s important to make sure they’re doing OK.”
Brunswick won promotion last season with a Division 2 grand final appearance, where it lost to undefeated Whitefriars.
Having taken the reins in November, this season was to be O’Dwyer’s senior coaching debut as well.
While disappointed to have the opportunity snatched away, O’Dwyer is already looking to strengthen the club on and off the field.
“We’ve got a committed young group and obviously I haven’t coached a game yet, so I’m just keen to get stuck into it,” he said.
“There was a really good feeling about the place and I’m looking forward to hopefully getting back into pre-season later this year.
“We had planned to run an AFL 9s type comp internally before the second wave came, so that’s put a halt to that.
“I’m sending out a Google form to get an idea of what everyone’s thinking about next year, they’re commitment levels but also what we can do better.
“As a first-year coach I felt we ran a pretty good pre-season program but we can always improve.
“I’m also looking to strengthen our coaching structure, to get a bit more support around me.”
O’Dwyer’s attention will now turn to signing his players for 2021.