THE GREAT unknown for Division 2 in 2015 was to be the return of Whittlesea to a grade it had historically made its own in recent history.
After the departure of explosive midfielder Lucas Hobbs to Macleod, ruckman Jeremy Page (Craigieburn), co-captain Roy Dyson to work commitments and key forward Mitch Scholard, the question marks mounted.
Would the Eagles challenge again and would they be the force they were once lauded for?
In third place on the ladder after a 15-point win away against Lalor, heading into Round 12 of the season, says Whittlesea can, and will.
Senior coach Brad Dean, in his second year at the helm, knew the challenges ahead.
“It was always going to be a challenge (but) those guys made their intentions known reasonably early, so we had to plan for it and let the younger guys know that opportunities would be there,” Dean told NFL.org.au.
“As a footy club we’ve always had a bit of depth about us, and a lot of those boys that have taken the next step have been waiting for the opportunity.
“You could probably throw Luke Deards into the mix as one we’ve missed as well. He’s gone overseas. He’s a key back and he’s one we’ve really missed this year on top of those other guys,” Dean said.
The silver-lining for Dean was however, the demonstrated depth of young, exuberant talent on the rise in the Eagles’ nest.
“The best part about it was I’ve had guys like Riley Dyson, Nathan Stefanile, Joel Bramble, Nathan Andrews, all young guys that have only played probably 30-40 games of senior footy, but with the extra responsibility they’ve taken the next step.
“We were really concerned about missing Roy (Dyson) out of our midfield, the amount of hard work that he does and Matty Dornauf has stepped up in that regard and he’d be well in front of our best and fairest by now, he’s been enormous in there just with his work rate,” Dean said.
“We haven’t missed those blokes (who have left) as much as we thought at the start of the year, but I still wouldn’t say no if they wanted to come back.”
And a concerted effort of playing the kids last year has played a crucial role in retaining a young list, according to Dean.
“We probably played about 38 or 39 of those boys (last year) that had some experience of Division 1 footy, and I think 32 of those are still on the list this year so we were confident with the list we had, and it was a matter of those younger boys stepping up.”
Despite a less-than-flattering win-loss ratio in season 2014 in Division 1, it was apparent the Eagles were set for a strong 2015 after a competitive year all the same. Dean believes 2014 to be somewhat of a catalyst for 2015’s rise.
“Last year, there would have been probably half a dozen games that were there to be won in the last 15 minutes and it was just due to that lack of experience that we weren’t able to get over the line a couple of times,” he said.
Many NFL pundits may argue there aren’t too many better measuring sticks than Division 1 powerhouse, Heidelberg. Anchored to opposite ends of the ladder, the Eagles showed their potential on both occasions in 2014 against the Tigers.
“We pushed Heidelberg both times we played them – we probably matched up better with them than any other team that we came up against. (That) was hard for outsiders to get their head around,” Dean said.
As the Eagles sit comfortably perched in third on the Division 2 ladder, one may remember that Whittlesea’s past two seasons in Division 2 ended in premiership triumph.
And at Round 12, the Eagles look to be well in the mix to continue the Division 2 flag trend. Although Dean’s vision is fixed on the long-term success of the Club.
“We weren’t expecting to go straight up this year and win a premiership. If it does happen, fantastic, but our focus all along has been to create an environment where we are lucky enough to get back up whether it’s one, two or three years.
“We’re going to have some guys that have played a lot of footy together and we’re going to get back there on the efforts of those boys who are Whittlesea people and are in it for the long term,” Dean said.
