Chadstone wins first VAFA division game in over 3000 days

Chadstone coach Luke Nally always felt a win wasn’t too far away for his side after a return to VAFA division footy in 2024. He gives an insight into his emotions and breaking the drought.

The Chadstone coaching staff of Jake Ricardo (reserves coach), Luke Nally (senior coach) and Angus Letzing (senior assistant).

Chadstone was quick to get out the calculators when the final siren sounded on Saturday.

The Synners had recorded their first win in VAFA division footy in a whopping 3256 days after playing in the Thirds grade since 2016.

The seniors and reserves sides both recorded wins over Eley Park.

Both grades had beaten Masala at Jordan Reserve on June 20, 2015 when the club last tasted success.

In an entertaining social media post, Chadstone listed “things that did not exist 3256 days ago” including Donald Trump as the US president and iPhone 6.

Coach Luke Nally was just relieved to see his side get the four points.

“There was just a feeling of pride,” he said.

“A reward for effort. Even when we had some bigger losses at the start of the season, the commitment from the playing group never wavered.

“Numbers didn’t drop off at training. It had all really started to come together the last couple of weeks. There’s a lot of new players this season, about 50 per cent of the senior group, it has taken time for us to really gel.”

Nally came into the coaching role in January having now been with Chadstone for six years.

He admitted being a playing coach had its challenges but was always thinking positively.

And when his side narrowly went down to La Trobe University a week earlier he felt a milestone win wasn’t too far away.

“Everything just clicked,” he said.

“The chemistry and vibe was a lot better. The belief had always been there, getting that sort of result showed us it wasn’t too far.

“Earlier in the season against Canterbury, we were only a couple of goals down at halftime and it didn’t feel like we were far away. Unfortunately we didn’t have a bench in the second half a conceded a little heavily.

“The scoreboard hadn’t always shown our level of performance.”

When the seniors were warming up for the weekend’s game, Nally admitted it was hard to get them to sometimes concentrate on his pre-game speech.

“The reserves games was a close one so a few of the boys kept popping their head out the door to see what was going on.

“Coming back into division footy, there’s been a big emphasis on a one club mentality. The playing group has really adopted it, they all get along and love playing together.”

Now looking ahead, Nally has simple plans for his side.

“We want to build on what we’ve done so far and keep improving,” he said.

“We went to work on our deficiencies after the first couple of games and we’ll continue to work on those.”

Chadstone takes on Richmond Central this weekend.