Fitzroy Stars chasing history, coming together through off-field adversity
Fitzroy Stars has never finished top of the ladder and are looking to erase 10 years of heartbreak, embracing the expectations of premiership favouritism.
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Fitzroy Stars are chasing history.
The NFNL Division 3 ladder-leader is three games away from the club’s first minor premiership.
The end goal, obviously, a first senior premiership.
Impressive wins over major title rivals Old Paradians and Mernda in the past three weeks sees the Stars hold flag favouritism.
They face Reservoir, Epping and Kilmore in the run home, hoping to hold off Paradians in the battle for the minor premiership.
However, expectation is only narrowing the focus.
“I don’t think we feel any expectations, we’re just taking it as it comes,” coach Lionel Proctor said.
“We set ourselves at the start of the year to be a top-five team and we’ve shown our best football is good enough.
“We’re growing in confidence, we’re happy, if we’re favourites for the flag we’re happy to take that on, we’re not shying away from it.
“Our club has never finished on top, so that’s something we’re aiming for to create a bit of history for the club.
“Winning the minor premiership but then we want to go further than that, create more history and get a senior flag.”
It’s been 10 years since Fitzroy’s back-to-back Division 2 grand final losses.
Proctor, Jai Burns and Allan Norris remain key senior players, while the likes of Keith Morgan, Coree Thorpe, Josh Wanganeen and Kaelun Brown are still at the club.
Burns is running second in the Coaches’ MVP voting and the return of Kain Proctor this season as been a significant boost to the Stars midfield.
It’s allowed the club to win contested ball and clearances in difficult conditions that previously wouldn’t have suited the club.
“That’s something we focused on in the off-season, getting Kain back was a huge get to help Jai out,” Proctor said.
“And with Allan Norris, those three have played a lot of football together and know each other’s game inside out.
“We’ve had Neville Jetta roll through there at stages, another experienced, solid body, and I think Keadin Ronin has really improved this year as well.
“Mernda and Paradians got us earlier in the year so we did learn a lot from those losses.
“To come out and execute the way we wanted to was really pleasing, it was a tough slog on the weekend because our ground isn’t in the best nick at the moment.
“We knew it was going to be a contested game and it obviously starts with our ruckman and onballers.”
The 31-point win over Mernda sees Fitzroy Stars riding a five-game winning run, only losing to the Demons by one point in the last nine weeks.
Proctor revealed a number of off-field loses and brought the group closer together.
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“What I’m really proud of is the guys’ resilience,” he said.
“We’ve had five or six deaths in the community over the last couple of weeks, so it’s hit a lot of the boys hard.
“To be able to back-up at training and on gameday shows how resilient they are.
“The Aboriginal community is a really tight-knit group, everyone knows everyone, so we’re just trying to stick together, support each other and help each other through.”
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