Brunswick miss VSDCA North-South finals by just 0.11 per cent
A final-round loss condemned Brunswick to an agonising VSDCA finals near-miss with captain-coach Liam Murphy saying the First XI got what it deserved after an inconsistent season.
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Brunswick’s VSDCA campaign came to a heartbreaking end on Saturday as the Wicks missed finals by just 0.11 per cent.
A 64-run hammering from St Bernard’s combined with Moorabbin’s victory over Plenty Valley pushed Brunswick out of the top six by the slenderest of margins.
After claiming the North-East group minor premiership last season, it was a disappointing finish for a club which added former Australia and Victoria paceman Clint McKay to its line-up over the off-season.
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“Went it all boils down, you get what you deserve,” Captain-coach Liam Murphy said.
“Over 13 rounds you find out where you’re at and that’s a pretty good reflection of where we’re at.
“Talent wise, we’ve got a good group of cricketers, but what’s played out is we just haven’t been consistent.
“That’s an issue when you’ve got such a tight competition, it doesn’t matter how talented you are, it’s the consistency of performance and (on Saturday) we had a really bad day.”
Murphy top-scored with 41 against St Bernard’s, finishing third on the competition run-scoring charts with 578 runs at 72.25.
But no Brunswick bowler claimed more than 20 wickets, Leigh Brennan’s 18 scalps the lowest return for the club’s leading First XI wicket-taker since Brett Wilkinson’s 20 in 2009-10.
More than 20 players rotated through the Wicks’ First XI in 2019-20.
Muhammed Shakeel was his team’s second highest run-scorer with 264 runs despite playing just eight games before returning to Pakistan, while McKay was restricted to seven due to his coaching commitments.
Injuries also played a part as James Pearson (elbow) and Ben Moss (back) missed large parts of the campaign.
Murphy said there were no major changes looming this off-season but questioned if his players were committed to succeeding at First XI level.
“The group isn’t an issue, it’s more being a little more accountable for our actions,” he said.
“If we do want to be successful in first grade, we need to make some choices in how hard we work each other and that’s done in a manner that allows us to play more consistency.
“Not so much be harder on ourselves but make sure we’re willing to commit to being successful and that sometimes means we have to do some uncomfortable stuff.”