A bitterly disappointing end to Reservoir’s 2014 campaign is fuelling the motivational fire at Crispe Park in season 2015.
After a slow start to the season, the Mustangs have won their past three matches before an all-important clash with ladder-leader South Morang this weekend.
Despite a 38-point loss in Round 1 to the Lions, Reservoir president Anthony Dal Santo believes the Club can continue to fight its way to redemption this year.
“The first game against South Morang it was a depleted team. Then we had a close win against Epping and then we lost a few. I think we lost our way for a while but now we’ve turned it around and we’ve got players back from injury,” he said.
The grand final loss to Thomastown in 2014 had a dividing impact on the Club in the immediate aftermath, according to Dal Santo.
“It was sort of bittersweet with the reserves winning. The first couple of days at the club after it was (contrasting moods).
“All the seniors had tried to put on a happy face for the reserves because they were obviously in party mode,” he said.
“After a couple of days I think the boys responded well and realised that Thomastown was streets ahead of everyone in Division 3, as they’ve shown now in Division 2.”
A steely resolve by the playing group in the pre-season has served the Mustangs well to this point in season 2015.
“I think in the pre-season before Christmas, the boys were pretty positive about things and put that behind them and said, ‘we’ll not worry about that, that was last year and we’ll get on with this year’," Dal Santo said.
Losses were to be had on the field and off the field, including reigning best and fairest winner.
Though, Daniel Couwenberg’s departure has been covered by the calculated recruiting by the Mustangs in the off-season.
Dal Santo says new recruits Judd Darby and Luke Walsh (Keilor Park) and Robert Graham (Bundoora) have filled the void left by Couwenberg’s talent.
“‘Juddy’ (Judd Darby) has slipped straight in. He’s sort of virtually taken over (Couwenberg’s) position straight away and ‘Walshy’ (Luke Walsh) has just started to hit his straps now,” he said.
“‘Robbie’ (Robert Graham) is the same. He got a broken nose after the first game so he missed a couple of games. But all good now, he’s starting to fire and play very well.”
Dal Santo’s role as president turned mediator in order to pull the Mustangs together in time for the 2015 season after the wave of emotion married to a grand final loss.
“I did sort of pull a few people aside that looked a bit out of sorts, disappointed and what not.
“I sat down and had a couple of chats with the coach and the coaching staff and obviously on that day and the next day you’re bitterly disappointed.
“But as I said we were beaten by a far superior team and let’s just put our heads together and try and get a few good players in, and let’s try again this year.”
Senior coach Ross Terranova remembers the sombre tone of the meeting, but was not shying away from the hard-hitting reality that the Mustangs needed to improve.
“We hadn’t seen silverware for 30 years, so it was disappointing from that perspective when you get so close.
“The thing is, in the end all you’ve got to do is get on with the next stage of it. In the end you learn from your mistakes and hopefully you improve if you get there again,” he said.
The Mustangs narrowly lost the 2012 preliminary final and were defeated in the 2013 semi final. And the 2014 grand final, while not forgotten, has been archived to the depths of the history books.
The hope and belief has now been restored after a gutting few years in finals as Reservoir finds itself in the hunt for its first premiership since 1984.
“You don’t know what’s going to happen, but hopefully we’ll be playing in the grand final again this year,” Dal Santo said.
