Epping senior men’s football coach Aaron Johnson believes a focus on mateship and enjoying playing football again has contributed to a stronger pre-season for his players.
Epping finished bottom of the MC Labour Division 2 ladder with a 1-15 record in Johnson’s first year as coach in 2019.
However, the Blues avoided a drop to third division, with no teams relegated from MC Labour Division 2 to allow the competition to expand to 10 teams.
Johnson’s main focus for the 2021 pre-season was “mateship and enjoying the time together with each other,” to allow the playing group to reinvigorate after a tough 2019 campaign followed by the cancelled 2020 season.
“Rather than doing the long running sessions like we would have normally done we focused on short sharp repeat efforts,” Johnson told NFNL.org.au.
“Running with ball work activities has seen us improve our disposal efficiency and made training more enjoyable for the boys.”
The club has been relying heavily on strength and conditioning coach Joel Norton, who has been modifying player workloads to ensure a smooth transition back to football after the COVID-19 break.
“It’s a tricky process after a long time away and we don’t want to overload players too quickly,” Johnson said.
“With our young side we also wanted to focus on modifying training loads and be more specific and individualised. This has seemed to have worked really well.”
Johnson believes the club will show improvement this year, with their youth a driving force for change.
“We look to continue to develop and nurture our young players and will look to become more competitive in games,” he said.
“Our aim is to win 6-8 games this season, provided we follow the right processes.”
Johnson is excited by the club’s additional depth heading into the new campaign.
“All players are training well which will make Round 1 (selection) difficult. I think we are batting a lot deeper this year than in 2019,” he said.
“Our boys continue to work hard in all areas and now understand what it takes to compete with the best in Division 2.”
Jhye Baddeley-Kelly has returned to the club after several impressive years at North Heidelberg. However, Johnson is unsure how often he will be available for selection due to VFL commitments with Coburg.
“I am totally unsure when we will see Jhye as he is a quality player who has lots to offer at a VFL level,” Johnson said.
“However, it would be great to have him for our Round 1 twilight game on Good Friday against Thomastown.”
Epping has retained the services of its 2020 signings, including two-time West Preston-Lakeside premiership player James Tadd, Lalor captain Jackson Freebairn, Tasmanian forward Tom Mitchell and versatile tall Jordan Wilkins, who returns after a season at Laurimar.
The Blues have also made three further signings ahead of the 2021 season.
“We have upgraded in the ruck position by adding two athletic and mobile ruckmen in Cameron Allum (Hawthorn Amateurs) and Andrew Tadd (West Preston-Lakeside). Both players are extremely coachable and have fitted in nicely at the club,” Johnson said.
“Stefan Balassopoulos (West Preston- Lakeside) has come to us after a few years away from the game. Stef will be a dangerous goal kicking forward who will also spend time in the midfield.”
In the club’s first practice match, Epping faced Oak Park with captain Leigh Judd, Jackson Freebairn, James Tadd, Corey Middleton and Arryn Gibson among the best players.
Epping will face Hadfield on March 13 and then old rivals Mernda under lights on March 26 in the annual Patrick Chow Cup.
