EFNL 2021: Why expectations are high at the Waverley Blues

Waverley Blues playing-coach Tom Langford has declared his club’s bold expectations for its Division 3 campaign following a grand final berth in 2019.

Daniel Playsted in action for Waverley Blues. Picture: Davis Harrigan

Expectations are high at the Waverley Blues ahead of their Division 3 campaign, but the club is set to field a new-look side according to playing-coach Tom Langford.

The Blues featured in their first grand final since 2008 in 2019 but fell to an undefeated South Belgrave outfit.

Langford heads into his first season at the helm after landing the head gig in late 2019, and said the bar was set high to better the club’s last outing.

“The expectation is to win the premiership – it sounds bold but it’s the challenge that we’ve set ourselves and we believe we’re capable,” Langford said.

“You need a lot of luck to win a premiership at any level, but control what we can control and if we get that bit of luck we’re confident that we can win the flag.”

The Blues take on Ferntree Gully in 2019.

But it will be a drastically different line-up taking the park according to Langford, with captain James Coghlan and vice-captain Jake Twycross headlining the departures from the club’s 2019 grand final side.

Daniel Playsted and Ben Turner will serve as co-captains this season after being voted in late last year.

More recently, the Blues have waved goodbye to two of its boom recruits from 2020, with former Richmond VFL name Max O’Sullivan relocating interstate after joining from Kyneton and ex-GWS academy gun Ben Vile moving back to NSW.

“We’ve lost those two (O’Sullivan and Vile) which were probably two of our top five, but we still think we’re very strong,” Langford said.

Langford pointed to the talent coming out of the under-19s which played in a grand final in 2019 to bolster the seniors this season, coupled with experience as the Blues strive to go one better.

The club welcomed back decorated greats Matt Sharpe and Paul Savage for what was supposed to be season 2020, where the pair were set to serve as playing assistants, while Dylan Cole and Nathan MacDonald were also among the returning names.

“Even though they (the under-19s) missed a year of footy they’ve still developed physically so our top end talent is a little bit lighter than it was but our squad depth is probably just the same.

“We’ve got these guys challenging for senior selection that were going to be playing 19s previously.

“We’re going to have 10 players different in our Round 1 side than the grand final team (and) we expect to be considerably stronger than (2019) – we’re essentially in first place and 10 players better off.”

The Waverley Blues open their season hosting Donvale on Saturday, April 10.