WINNING its first senior final is on the radar for St Mary’s in 2014 despite losing its reigning club champion, according to new coach Con Borg.
The Burra will head into the new campaign without Dillan Ronalds, with the 2013 Division 3 Coaches Player of the Year set to make a switch to Division 1 club Lower Plenty.
But despite the departure of its best player, Borg is confident of what the year ahead holds for his new club.
“I’ve made it pretty clear that anything but finals will be a failure,” Borg told NFL.org.au midway through his first pre-season as senior coach.
“I’m not going to sit here and say that we’re going to finish in the top two or make a grand final, but I think we have to aim for the top four and I don’t think that’s unrealistic.
“To win the club’s first ever final would definitely be on the cards.”
While disappointed to lose Ronalds, Borg said he left with the club’s best wishes.
“I definitely can’t begrudge anyone who is having a go at a higher level of footy,” Borg said. “As much as I would love to have him, I also congratulate him on making that decision.”
Borg joins Whatmough Park after a successful stint as an assistant to Mario Bandera at Epping.
The 35-year-old spent the past two seasons as senior assistant at the Blues, helping guide the club to the 2012 Division 2 premiership.
Upon realising midway through last year that the time was right to step into a senior role, Borg said he interviewed for a number of coaching positions before accepting the St Mary’s job.
The opportunity to take hold of a young side with a strong junior pathway was the major catalyst for him taking on the Burra coaching position.
“We’re obviously very young as a club and the players are very young and there is a lot of room for improvement. That was probably the best thing,” Borg said.
“I went to a few interviews and the most important thing for me and the clubs I was most interested in were the ones that had the strong juniors to come through, not just relying on recruiting.”
Borg takes the reins at St Mary’s at a pivotal time in the club’s development.
After experiencing finals action in just its second and third years of senior football, the Burra last year missed a place in the top four for the first time since their debut year.
Under his tutelage, Borg said he expected the club to play a more contested and accountable brand of football to ensure it returned to finals action.
“Working with Supa (Bandera) at Epping, I think we’ve come up with a game plan that stands up to Division 1 footy, which I think can be successful in Division 2 and 3 as well,” Borg said.
“I want to put some things in place that will give us the best opportunity to stand up to the best teams in the league.
“I want to be confident when they go out there and know what our game plan is and know what our structure are, rather than just going out there and hoping for the best.”
With “90 to 95 percent” of last year’s list recommitting in 2014, Borg said he was confident the natural progression of the club’s youngsters would take his club forward.
He confirmed the signing of Epping premiership player Simon Kefalas and was in talks with a number of other Division 1 players who looked likely to sign in coming weeks.
The acquisition of Kefalas is a major coup for the Burra who averaged a mere 71 points a game in 2013. The leading goal kicker in the Blues’ premiership season, Kefalas booted 93 goals across the 2011-12 seasons before a move higher up the field last year.
Borg said he’d been suitably impressed by the training standards set by Shane Derham and Kane Patterson and believed the former would cover the hole left by Ronalds’ departure.
“(Derham) is very clean, he’s a one-touch player and I’m looking forward to a really big year from him especially after losing our number one player,” Borg said.
“Dillan previously took on a lot of the load and Shane will definitely stand up there and I think he’ll be one of the dominant players in the league this year.”
St Mary’s has locked in practice match against VAFA club Ivanhoe and is on the lookout for several more practice games before taking on Reservoir at home in Round 1.
