VAFA: University Blacks reappoint coach Dale Bower, lock in Matthew Dea
University Blacks president Nick Carah explains how the VAFA Premier B outfit plans to return to the top flight and gives an update on its off-season.
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University Blacks have reappointed coach Dale Bower and are bursting with optimism as they target a return to the top flight of the Victorian Amateur Football Association.
After a fruitful recruiting campaign, the Premier B outfit was confident of a strong showing in 2020 before the season was canned.
But president Nick Carah said his club was readying itself for a return to Premier after it was relegated at the end of 2017.
Uni Blacks have since suffered painful preliminary final defeats in consecutive seasons, losing to Old Carey by four points in 2018 and Old Scotch by five points in 2019.
Carah described the top competition as “formidable” but said his club had a “clear goal” to take on the elite after claiming the 2014 flag.
“We feel like we’ve got the team and the set-up to compete really strongly for the right to get up there, and I think enough momentum on and off the field to be able to sustain ourselves up there,” Carah said.
“You need to go up to A grade really strongly.
“Even the fact we lost in those two games in ’18 and ’19 probably suggested we weren’t quite ready because what tends to happen is the best team goes up and prospers.
“Unless the second team is really, really strong, they often can come straight back down. Being third … suggested we probably had a couple of gaps left to fill.
“Unfortunately, we sort of felt going into this year that we might have done that. We were pretty confident of our prospects in 2020, without getting ahead of ourselves.”
The experienced Bower was set to steer Uni Blacks this year after holding the top job at Old Scotch, Scoresby and East Ringwood.
He has also spent time at VFL clubs Williamstown and Box Hill.
“As a university club, we always say we draw from a broad church,” Carah said.
“You have kids coming from all points of the compass – country, city, some interstate and all various backgrounds.
“You’ve got to be able to work with different personalities and try to blend a group of different people into a united force.
“He (Bower) inherited a pretty good team because we had a long-standing coach in Cam Roberts, who was a very successful coach who was much-loved, so he came in having to prove himself against the backdrop of that.
“He’s just a great people person, very down to earth. He loves football and is one of those guys that is very, very passionate about everything that goes into it. He’s a real players’ coach … centred around them and their welfare and uniting them to a cause.”
Following the 2019 campaign, Uni Blacks completed their “best recruitment period for five years”.
The signings were headlined by Matthew Dea, who spent 10 years in the AFL system and played 70 games for Richmond and Essendon.
Dea has recommitted for next season as a playing assistant coach in a boost.
“He’s got a couple mates and is close with our former captain Bede Mahon,” Carah said.
“He’s still very committed and keen to get on the park.”
Former North Melbourne VFL player Mitch Rodd also arrived and produced a standout pre-season.
Lachlan Waddell came from Port Melbourne and was set to add valuable height, while the hard-running and classy James Sansom crossed from Old Scotch.
Carah said Uni Blacks had lost no players of note since the end of last season.
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