Season review: breakout seasons give Footscray hope after Premier Cricket finals miss

Footscray fell from second to 11th this Premier Cricket season but impressive breakout seasons from several young guns has the club confident of a quick bounce back.

Aiman Nadeem had a breakout season for Footscray. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Footscray isn’t expecting to be out of Premier Cricket finals for long after a “development year” in 2023-24.

The Bulldogs fell from second and a semi-final appearance last season to 11th with a 6-6 record after major changes last winter.

Dean Russ, Daniel Sartori and Jake Reed retired, while Tim Hughes departed and last season’s leading wicket-taker Umair Butt was limited to just four appearances.

In their place it saw several breakout campaigns and 10 First XI debuts.

Footscray coach Dale McDonald said it had been a good season despite dropping out of finals.

Dylan Brasher in action for Footscray. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Dylan Kight makes his ground for Footscray. Picture: Andy Brownbill

“Given the circumstances we faced with having three guys retire I’d say it was a pretty successful season from a development point of view,” McDonald said.

“That’s across the whole club and, ideally, it would have been nice to play finals in the First XI but it wasn’t to be and that’s to do with a lack of experience.

“Overall, we’re really happy with how it all worked out – we had 10 debutants in the First XI, which gives you an idea of what we tried to achieve.”

While Dylan Brasher, rightfully, stole the headlines with a stunning glut of runs, Footscray saw several players step up to a new level.

At just 18, Aiman Nadeem established himself as the Bulldogs long-term opener alongside Brasher.

After making his First XI debut in Round 3, Nadeem finished the season with 461 runs at an average of 35.46, ranked inside the competition’s top-20 run-scorers.

After scoring three consecutive half-centuries to start, he broke through for his maiden Premier Cricket century in Round 15 against Greenvale – 116 – and added another 93 in the final round.

With the ball, off-spinner Jay Vine enjoyed an equally impressive season with a club-leading 26 wickets at 15.23, including a brilliant 7-52 against finalist Ringwood.

Umair Butt only played four games for Footscray this season. Picture: Andy Brownbill

“Aiman has had a fantastic first season, he’s come in and opened the batting for pretty much the whole season,” McDonald said.

“He’s had a great season and to also go and play under-19s for the Northern Territory in the national carnival was a fantastic opportunity for him to showcase his skills.

“To get a maiden hundred and come up seven runs short in the last game against Casey, who are playing finals, shows he’s got a bright future.

“The other one who’s been outstanding is Jay Vine.

“He worked his way into the First XI and got 26 wickets at 15, which was great reward for his hard work.”

Meanwhile, Brasher is inching closer to a Victoria debut after a magnificent season at the top of the order.

The run-machine recorded 733 runs at 56.38 this season, third most in the competition, and added another 390 at 43.33 for the Vics Second XI.

He also scored a half-century for Victoria rookies against South Australia and a 97 against Pakistan.

Dylan Kight had a productive season in the middle order, scoring 360 runs, while Travis Dean added 318 when back from state duties.

Ben Roosenboom and Max Birthisel collected 22 and 18 wickets respectively.

Footscray’s Second XI will play finals and McDonald is confident the club has the talent at Merv Hughes Oval to bounce back quickly.

“We’ve got some really good depth in our batting stocks and hopefully we can fast-track development in our bowlers,” he said.

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“That’s probably where we fell short, having a strike bowler, so hopefully we can fast-track a guy like Liam Mason who had a fantastic year in the Second XI.

“Our batting in the Seconds we’ve got Aayan Nadeem, Josh Pace, Max Hatzoglou and Mitch Jamieson came back for the last three games.

“A lot of hard work has gone into Mitch’s recovery from pretty major surgery.

“He and Aiman got to play in the three-day Vic Metro-Country combined squad against NSW, which is a huge feather in both their caps.”