Kinglake coach Dave Florance discusses club’s preparation and goals for 2024
New Kinglake coach Dave Florance is confident his new gameplan is versatile enough to succeed anywhere, while the club’s boom recruit is having a big impact.
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Kinglake’s brilliant return to the Northern Football Netball League came to a crashing end last season.
Three straight defeats and an elimination final exit was an unfortunate finish to a year that saw the club win 12 of 14 games to that point and finish third in its first season back in the league since 2007.
New coach Dave Florance has since taken the reins at Memorial Reserve and introduced a gameplan he believes can deliver success anywhere.
“We’ll be attacking but we’ll certainly set ourselves up defensively to make sure we stop more than we score,” Florance said.
“We take every ground as it comes, everyone puts all this thought into ground size and conditions but at the end of the day both sides have to play on it and there’s four sticks at either end.
“But in all honesty, the way we’ll set up and the way we’ll play will be adaptable to all shapes and sizes.
“As much as Kinglake is an advantage, certainly in the heart of winter, the way we want to play has to be transitioned throughout the year.
“That’s where the defensive mindset will come into it, the way we defend the ground.
“We’ll have a potent attack, which I think will bode well on the bigger grounds, so if we can defend and turn the footy over we’ll get into dangerous spots for our forwards to earn their bucks.”
Kinglake showcased its talent by winning eight of the opening nine games and going undefeated at Memorial Reserve.
However, the year ended with losses at Laurimar Reserve, Heidelberg Park and Whittlesea Showgrounds in the minor semi-final against Old Eltham Collegians.
Captain Bailey Robinson finished fourth in the league best-and-fairest and Leigh Gilbert was sixth with the pair, together with Damien Pywell, selected in the Team of the Year.
Gilbert and Pywell both finished in the top-five in the league goalkicking.
However, the club will need to find another level if it is to contend for the premiership in 2024, according to Florance.
“We were there or thereabouts last year so there needs to obviously be improvement,” he said.
“Having lost a couple of key players, the players we’ve brought in and the development of the younger blokes with exposure to senior football will help that 10 to 15 per cent improvement.
“A bit more structure and a better understanding of what we’re trying to do in defence will be an extra percentage on top of that.
“Our mindset is certainly not here to make up the numbers and we’ve certainly aware of how the competition is shaping up to be.”
Florance identified young gun Jed Tyrell as one of the players that was ready to step up into a bigger role.
Tyrell, along with Corey Shenholds and Lochlan Kelly, have been named in the future leaders group for 2024.
“Jed, he would have played 20 or 30 games now, he’s only 19 and he’s got a lot of X-factor about him,” Florance said.
“We’re going to get him to spend a lot more time in the middle this season to expose him to the work-rate needed from an onballer but he understands what needs to happen and is keen to take big strides.”
Since last season, defenders Matt Coen and Matt Langford have departed for Whittlesea.
Elliot Kynaston has arrived from Kyabram District club Avenal, while the Lakers have secured NFNL goalkicking record-holder Shane Harvey in a major coup.
The North Heidelberg legend, where he was teammates with Florance, has already shown his value on and off the field.
“He’s going well, he was up for intra-club and he’s trained a handful of times too,” Florance said.
“He just gets it, the pace being a little bit slower at Division 3, his mind is certainly sharp enough and the pace allows his body to be sharp enough to.
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“He moves into different spots that blokes aren’t used to and when most blokes have tunnel vision he can see around corners and he hits blokes up when they’re not ready.
“He’s imparting a lot of knowledge onto our young forwards and mids, even someone like Damian Pywell he’s picking Shane’s brain every chance he can get, which is what we wanted.”
Kinglake ramps up preparations with a pair of practice matches, starting with Southern club Skye on March 16 and then old Outer East rival Alexandra on March 23.
The Lakers will host Fitzroy Stars at Memorial Reserve on April 6.
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