Riddell District Football League club Diggers Rest experiences a busy off-season of recruiting

DIGGERS Rest has had a busy off-season of recruiting as it looks to take the single, but giant, leap to the premiership dais.

RDFL Football: Sunbury Kangaroos versus Diggers Rest at Eric Boardman Resrve, sunbury. Diggers Rests coach Shaun SIms. Pictures:Angie Basdekis

DIGGERS Rest has had a busy off-season of recruiting as it looks to take the single, but giant, leap to the premiership dais.

The Burras finished fourth at the end of the Riddell District Football League home-and-away season before progressing to the decider.

Shaun Sims’ side was competitive in the decider, going down by just 18 points against undefeated Romsey.

But Sims said Diggers Rest was “a long way in front of this time last year”.

“We probably needed a few extra weeks, really, by the end of the year. We were playing our best footy by then,” he said.

“We have been pretty lucky. All the guys we spoke to committed fairly early, so it’s a lot easier than this time last year.”

Dean Smith has joined the Burras as an assistant coach from Essendon District Football League club Greenvale, where he is a premiership player.

“He’ll be a very good player in our competition,” Sims enthused.

Other signings include Jamie Lobb (Essendon Doutta Stars) and Jamerson Campbell (Sunbury Kangaroos), while 2006 Bowen Medal winner Stephen Ruane and Brett Caton have returned.

Matthew Krul is the only notable departure because of work commitments.

“One of the biggest positives is we get Brent Tuckey back, who missed the whole season with an injury,” Sims said.

“It will be great to have him on the ground for his on-field leadership, too.

“The guys who have come back and come on board are all really good users of the footy.

“We probably struggled with that last year in certain areas of the ground and these guys use the ball particularly well.

“A few of them are really good finishers, too, which we probably struggled with last year as well. We could win enough of the footy and things like that — we just probably couldn’t finish off.”

With several clubs busy during the recruiting period, Sims expects a competitive year in 2015.

“The opposition teams are going to be really strong, which is good. That’s what we should want and that’s what the league should want,” he said.

“It will be a fairly competitive season and there should be more upsets than there has been in the past as well.”

Sims stopped short of giving this year’s campaign a tick despite the grand final appearance.

“I was extremely happy with the way the team and the football club came together toward the end of the year,” he said.

“I was really impressed with the defensive aspects of our game and I thought we probably finished the year as one of the best defensive teams, and we were a long, long way away from that at the start and probably in the middle of the year.

“But once you get to a grand final, you’re there to win it.”