Reservoir looking to make 100th season one to be proud of

After a drought-breaking three-win season last year, Reservoir is looking to increase its competitiveness and make its 100th season one to be proud of.

Reservoir is confident it can make its centenary year a season to be proud of.

The Mustangs will celebrate 100 years, aiming to build on last season’s drought-breaking three-win campaign and further increase its competitiveness in NFNL Division 3.

The club has a commemorative guernsey for the season and signed several promising recruits, while it’s Crispe Park facilities has been improved.

Perhaps most importantly, coach Justin George has seen a “massive turnaround” in pre-season training.

“This time last year we were averaging 12 players at training, this year it’s 41,” he said.

Zane Pugliese-Thompson in action for Reservoir. Picture: George Salpigtidis

“The squad is looking fit, the skill levels have improved massively so things are looking really positive and we think we can be competitive this year.

“We’re under no illusions, we’re still 20 goals off the next rung of sides, but full credit to the players, they’re really buying in to what we’re trying to teach.

“The club, off the field, has taken massive steps forward, we’ve got a committee of dedicated professionals, a century of rubbish has been thrown out, it’s clean and re-painted and there’s a really positive vibe.”

Reservoir snapped its 48-game losing streak with a Round 2 victory over Lalor and beat the Bloods twice more in the club’s best season since returning from recess.

Tom Holland was named in the Division 3 Team of the Year and finished 13th in the Coaches MVP.

George is confident his club can be more competitive again this season.

“You break it down, you have the top four then you’ve got the middle two and then us and Lalor and we want to step into that middle group this year,” he said.

“We want to be competitive against the Kinglakes, Mernda and Heidelberg West and see if we can elevate our game.

“Rob Holland was Team of the Year and Jack Smith definitely would have made it if he hadn’t got injured.

“Then guys like Tom Dunn, Dale Wells, Taylor Bryant, the MacDonald brothers and Harrington brothers have taken another step.

“In Nathan King we think we’ve got one of the better intercept-marking defenders, in the last six rounds he was averaging eight intercept marks a game – obviously it was going in there a lot.

“We’ve found some good players to compliment who we’ve already got and managed to entice some players back to the club, which is a real positive.”

Connor Harris, Riley Barker (both West Preston-Lakeside), Rob Bentley (South Morang), Jesse and Josh Inzillo (both Hadfield), Alex Mills (St Kilda City), Sam Heurtau (Chelsea) and Kieran Robertson (South Melbourne Districts) and Joe Toce have all joined over the summer.

Harris arrives after playing under-19s for West Preston-Lakeside last season with Reservoir looking to provide “apprenticeships” for young players who might not get senior opportunities at the Roosters.

Likewise, Bentley, is chasing senior opportunity, Barker is a Reservoir junior, Mills was a promising junior before a serious knee injury and the Inzillo brothers are looking to return to the game after COVID.

George is excited by the prospect of Toce, a “6’6 key position player” who can play both ends and fellow tall Ryan Evans, who played one game last year after a serious leg injury in 2021.

The second-year coach said fitness late in quarters and in games would be critical to the team’s hopes of being more competitive.

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The Mustangs reduced their losing margin slightly from 148 to 146 points per game but saw their offence fall from 30 to 20 points per game.

“Each quarter it would be two goals to one or none but it was red time that killed us because we didn’t have the fitness base,” George said.

“My focus this pre-season has been on elevating that fitness base so we can run quarters out and we think if we can reduce that then we can be competitive.”

Reservoir ramps up preparations with practice matches against Eastern league club Silvan and Essendon District outfit Northern Saints before a Round 1 road trip to newcomers Kinglake on April 15.