Season in review: Melton Centrals’ injury pain comes with silver lining
SEASON REVIEW: When Melton Centrals spearhead Dylan Weir went down in the season opener it spelled disaster but a promising crop of youngsters has hopes high.
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The loss of star full forward Dylan Weir in the opening game of the RDFL season cruelled Melton Centrals’ season almost before it begun.
Weir booted 62 and 60 in 2019 and 2018 respectively but was cut down by a knee injury in the Round 1 win over Western Rams, crippling the Blues’ attack.
After challenging for finals last season, Centrals managed just two wins this season – both over the Rams.
“This year didn’t go as well as we’d hoped because of our injury toll and we didn’t have the depth to cover it,” Centrals coach Matt Sproule said.
“It’s also about who gets injured, our full forward Dylan Weir got injured 20 minutes into Round 1 and there’s 60 goals we’ve lost.”
Weir is also unlikely to feature much in 2022 after undergoing surgery in June.
With Weir missing Dean Borg finished the season as the Blues’ leading goalkicker, bagging 23 majors in eight appearances.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom, Sproule believes the club can develop into a “top three or four” contender in the near future with the right additions.
“We had a young group but the club was always in great spirits, which was a good thing, the reserves were going to play finals.
“We got some games into some 17 to 20-year-olds and now it’s up to the them to have a big pre-season when they can.
“Whoever coaches next year just needs to bring some experience in because we’ve got some really good kids.
“There’s a core of a really good team they just need some experience to help them out.
“It’s a job, if a playing-coach wants to cut his teeth or an experienced coach wants to do it, there’s a good opportunity to push forward and play finals.”
Ruckman Peter Akech showed he’s one of the brightest talents in the league with another consistent season.
Key recruit Curtis Schultz returned 11 goals in nine games while leaders Daniel Foley and Jarrod Spry were strong contributors when on the field.
Sproule was impressed by the growth of the club’s next generation.
“Peter Akech, our ruckman, he’s been there now for three or four years, he was out best player over the year,” Sproule said.
“We got some good improvements from Sam Apineru, Josh Spry and Dylan Clark, which was great, and Milan Savic when we could play was great.
“Tyson Orr, if he can get fit, could be a very good player moving forward, Travis Ferri had a really good year as well and should be better with a full pre-season.”
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Sproule revealed 2021 would be his last season in charge at the start of the season.
The club has begun its search for a new leader with an announcement expected by the end of the month.
“I loved it, even though it was only four seasons in five years, I had a great time,” Sproule said.
“The committee, the president and footy manager were great support. There’s a really good bunch of people that put a lot of time and money back into the footy club.”
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