Northcote coach Warren Pereara says plenty of positives in season despite finals miss
A horror T20 run saw Northcote miss Premier Cricket finals by the barest of margins but the Dragons say there were positives than negatives this season.
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For the third time in the past five seasons, Northcote fell agonisingly short of Premier Cricket finals.
Since making a preliminary final, that was ultimately wiped out by COVID, the Dragons have finished ninth, tenth, seventh, eighth and ninth.
Last winter saw an overhaul of the club’s list as several key personnel departed and the club rebuilt on the run in 2024-25, with six changes from last season’s elimination final loss to this season’s finale.
A horror run through the T20 rounds either side of Christmas ultimately proved fatal as the club lost four matches and had two washed out.
Despite winning four and drawing one of its final five matches, a Round 14 win over Fitzroy Doncaster wasn’t enough as Northcote finished five points behind Melbourne in eighth.
While frustrated by another near miss, coach Warren Pereara said the positives outweighed the negatives.
“It was a pleasing season without making finals, for the Ones,” Pereara said.
“There were some big changes for us, we had a lot of personnel leave at the end of last season.
“For the way we played our cricket, if you take away the T20s – which we obviously have to work on – we would have finished fourth or fifth, so that was a bit disappointing.
“There were so many good stories, the emergence of guys like Will Blair, Max Mikedis and Tearan Gleeson and Leo Manteit played games in the ones, Jacko Smith and Mitch Lawson coming in.
“Add in Archie Lalor, who was injured in the last game, there’s an emergence of a guy at 19 years of age, who knows where cricket is going to take him in the future.
“The Seconds, I think they’ve got six new faces from last year’s premiership side, so there’s depth there and our Thirds and Fourths, aside from our Fourths captain Cam Fitzgerald, every other player is 23 or younger and a lot of those being 17 or 18.”
Gun all-rounder Jack Lalor finished as the club’s leading run-scorer, amassing 549 runs at an average of 39.21 – 14th overall – while Joe Medew-Ewen was again the leading wicket-taker with 24 scalps, equal 14th in the competition.
Tearan Gleeson enjoyed a career-best season with 448 runs, while Josh Sundberg (357) and Aaron Crispe (344) were ranked just outside the top-50.
In his Northcote debut, Jackson Smith claimed 21 wickets, Sam Harbinson added 18 and Lalor 14.
Pereara said there was plenty of growth in the club’s young squad.
“There’s a different feeling around the club this year, everyone is pretty close and one the same page,” he said.
“It sounds a bit wanky but there’s a great togetherness as one club, which it was anyway, but it was even stronger again.
“We spoke to some of the families of the 16s and 18s and there’s a genuine buy-in, they understand the pathway and we’re excited by what we’ve seen from the young guys.
“With the team, in terms of games is still quite young, there’s so much growth for this group and the club in general.
“With the Twos making finals and winning (its elimination final) on the weekend, it shows we’ve got depth.”
Pereara said the club would be looking for the right recruits over the off-season but was happy to trust in its development.
The Dragons brought in former international spinner Fawad Ahmed as an assistant coach this season, while former Dragon Rory Collins has been looking after the wicketkeepers.
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“We’ll actively see if there’s people we want to bring in but we’re spending just as much energy worrying about our 16s and 18s,” Pereara said.
“We’ve got some kids that are playing in our lower grades that could potentially fast-track themselves pretty quickly.”
Northcote’s Second XI knocked off St Kilda by one wicket in a heart-stopping elimination final at Bill Lawry Oval, captain Michael Rogneda taking 5-35 and making 13 not out to steer his team home.
The Dragons will now face Fitzroy Doncaster in a semi-final looking to keep their back-to-back dreams alive, while Carlton – after eliminating minor premier Camberwell Magpies – will face Melbourne Uni.
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