Wallan coach Daniel Nolan discusses the Magpies’ expectations, recruits

Wallan isn’t throwing the baby out with the bathwater after reaching the grand final last year but hopes small tweaks can help it take the premiership step.

Chris Stewart in action for Wallan. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Wallan isn’t throwing the proverbial baby out with the bathwater as it looks to go one better in 2025.

The Magpies fell short in last year’s RDFNL decider, a 31-point loss to Riddell, and has made some small changes to the gameplan.

However, they remain confident the over-arching system can deliver that long-awaited premiership.

Wallan has once again gone to the recruiting well, bolstering its list with the likes of Victor Micallef, Jeremy Hayes, Alex Crawford, Jesse Nelson, Cameron Cloke and, potentially, Harley Short.

Add in a fully fit Steve Boyall and Josh Vilinskis and the expectations are high.

Corey Viani in action for Wallan. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Coach Daniel Nolan said last year showed the club was on the right track.

“We’ve made a few changes to our game style and the way we look at things,” Nolan said.

“You have to alter every year, you tinker with things, but ultimately we weren’t far away on grand final day.

“For long periods of the season and on grand final day we were right there, so we’ve still got a lot of faith and confident in our system.

“The leadership group drive (expectations), throughout the pre-season we’ve had meetings and discussions about what we want to do and how we’re going to achieve it.

“We’ve got some unbelievable leaders at the club, blokes like (Michael) Mannix, (Steve) Boyall, (Sean) Morris, Chris Stewart, (Jake) Carlisle and then you bring in a Victor Micallef who’s been a captain and Harley Short who’s been a premiership captain.

“They’re pretty determined and motivated to challenge again, which as a coach when you see that, it shows the mindset of the group we’ve got to go one further.”

Short remains in limbo as Roxburgh Park dig its heels in over his clearance.

Jake Carlisle in action for Wallan. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Nolan hopes he’s available for the club’s season-opener against Riddell in Round 2.

“I’m really confident it will go through but it’s a process at the moment,” he said.

“He’s had a great pre-season, trained with us every pre-season, lives in Wallan now, so put him in our midfield it’s pretty exciting.”

The Magpies will have to cool their heels after copping the Round 1 bye.

They will welcome the Bombers to Greenhill Reserve in a mouth-watering grand final rematch.

Match against elimination finalist Romsey, Lancefield and preliminary final opponent Macedon follow.

While much has been made of the club’s off-season additions, Nolan believed there was plenty of internal improvement with the likes of Boyall, mid-season additions Carlisle and John Bellino and even VFL-listed young gun Nash King having full pre-seasons.

“Stevie played the last four home-and-away games and won the best in finals award for us,” Nolan said.

“After a full pre-season, he’s like a new recruit for us, and Josh Vilinskis as well, who played the first four games and didn’t come back – he adds a bit of outside pace.

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“You can talk about Jake Carlisle and John Bellino, who only came to us with seven games to go, and Angus Love is back with us after having a year off.

“Nash King, too, he’s finished with Calder Cannons – he was on the AFL Draft radar and spoke to several AFL clubs – and is on Carlton’s VFL list, he played the practice match against Benalla and absolutely dominated.”

Wallan has a core of veteran players but Nolan also believed the club had several youngsters ready to push into senior footy.

“Archie Moore, who captained our under-19s and won the best-and-fairest, I think he might have come second in the league best-and-fairest too, Jett Kennedy, Luke Young and Max Russell, those four are certainly guys to watch.”