Northcote Park locks in coach and leaders after ‘kick up the arse’ season
Such has been coach Steve Saddington’s impact at Northcote Park this season the Cougars’ playing group demanded he be re-signed for 2022.
Northern
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Northcote Park captain Paul Dirago reveals the feeling inside the club, you’d never have guessed it was 0-12 this season.
The star defender admitted it was weird given the Cougars’ on-field struggles in NFL Division 1 but the leadership of coach and club great Steve Saddington had brought the playing group closer than ever.
And it was the players that demanded Saddington be locked in for 2022.
With the coach’s future secure, Dirago and his fellow leaders Matt Perry and Ben McNiece have also committed their futures.
Cougars football manager Matt McLennan said Saddington’s impact in his first season was clear.
“The leadership group came to us and asked what are you doing for 2022 and said ‘we love to play for him’,” McLennan said.
“They’ve been really supportive of the footy club, we’d been doing 60-70 meals on a Thursday night before lockdown.
“Off the field we feel great, if you walked into the club on a Thursday night you’d have no idea how we’re doing on a Saturday.
“The boys walked in, we asked what do you want and the said ‘we want Saddo’.
Northcote Park was staring down the barrel of relegation for the first time since earning promotion to Division 1 in 1994.
The club has had a horror year on the injury front but admitted it didn’t do enough to fix its depth issues.
Dirago has only played six games this season after severely injuring his hand in pre-season and star big man Kyle Galloway has only played four matches.
Rosbrook Medallist Bronik Davies has featured five times, Lachie Boscarini and exciting youngster Trohne Ugle three times.
Just five players have played all 12 games this season but the club has unearthed some exciting talent such as Liam McErlain and recruits Daniel Tallariti, Matthew Grocott and Jack Sammartino.
The Cougars were winless on the bottom of the ladder when the Northern Football League announced it was scrapping relegation for 2021.
The Division 2 premier will still earn promotion, making it an 11-team competition for a season with two teams to be dropped for 2023.
McLennan said while there had been extenuating circumstances, 2021 had been “the kick up the arse” the club needed.
“We do believe the season was compromised, we didn’t get to play Whittlesea twice, we didn’t get to play Hurstbridge,” he said.
“We’ve worked as hard as anyone off the field, mid-season we started getting our list back together, but before that we were running around 12 of our top 22 short.
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“(But) it definitely hasn’t been satisfactory, this season has been a really good kick up the arse.
“We are a strong Division 1 football club for a long time and we’re confident we’ll be back competing for finals in 2022.”
Expect the Cougars to be strong players on the recruiting front this off-season with several former players targeted to return.
Northcote Park is also targeting a playing senior assistant to bolster the club’s leadership and experience on field.
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