SFNL: Bentleigh coach Kristian Bardsley explains why he is bullish about 2024

Bentleigh has been a force in the Southern league’s under-19s. Senior coach Kristian Bardsley explains how the Demons’ underage success can translate to his side and why inexperience won’t hold them back.

Bentleigh players celebrate a goal. Picture: FACEBOOK

Bentleigh coach Kristian Bardsley won’t let youth be an excuse in 2024.

While the Demons have a bright future, with an under-19s crop that has won back-to-back flags, Bardsley said the back end of 2023 showed how close his side is to exploding.

“If you don’t look to be aiming for finals, I don’t know why you’re doing it,” he said.

“We want to try and compete against the better sides and play finals footy, just because we are developing, it doesn’t mean we don’t want success.

“We’re there to win games of footy and I think the last six games (of 2023) showed us; we ran Port Colts to two points, Springy beat us by 20 points but at three-quarter time we were up or equal.

“There’s no doubt we have the talent to compete, it’s just a matter we have the physical and mental things down pat, use the ball a bit better to allow us to not only be in games but win games.

“I have been there for only 12 months now and the improvement we’ve had as a whole is really good.

“From the start to the end, we got a lot better.”

The Bentleigh under-19s have been a force in recent years. Picture: FACEBOOK

Knowing the age profile of the list, Bentleigh hasn’t rushed to fill spots in its best 22 that could be filled by an existing player.

Instead, the Demons have looked to improve on their seventh-placed finish by giving their green shoots a clean run at it.

“A lot of the boys are doing a lot of good, hard work at the moment,” he said.

“We took down a strategy that we’ve got to make sure that we’ve got spots for these kids to play senior footy.

“From a recruiting point of view, we’ve been targeting in recruiting rather than recruiting just for a number.

“So our development is going to come from our young group getting better and playing senior footy.

“So we’re really happy with how they’re going, their commitment to training, their work ethic and willingness to get better.”

Bentleigh starts its season with the annual season-opener with St Paul’s McKinnon.