Heidelberg legend Danny Nolan will rely on an emerging group of young talent in his maiden season at the helm of the Tigers.
The Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 powerhouse has had to deal with a raft of key losses in the past 18 months, including former captains Michael Brunelli and Ryan Stone, Sam Grimley, Jack Blair, Tom Sullivan, Chaz Sargeant and Fletcher McIvor.
But Nolan is putting his hopes into a solid core group of players ready to break out at senior level.
“From 2019 we had two past captains leave and other experienced guys move on,” Nolan said to NFNL.org.au.
“I think that allows for guys to feel comfortable being leaders instead of sitting in the shadows and waiting for others to do it.
“We’ve got a group of about eight players who have played around 50 games – if we can get about half of them to take that next step and become A-grade players then that’s where the growth will be.”
Nolan has always been a favourite of the Heidelberg faithful – his playing days brought rich success in the form of five premierships and four club best and fairest awards. Now, he will look to replicate those achievements as coach.
Taking over the reins of Heidelberg from Frank Raso in early 2020 allowed Nolan to realise his “dream job”, until the season was cancelled due to COVID-19.
But over a year without football has helped him to prepare for his first season as head coach by working on the culture he wants to instil at Warringal Park.
“Last year helped build a lot of relationships with players in terms of initiating a lot more one-on-one contact over the phone and just checking they were all okay,” Nolan said.
“I’ve got a pretty good idea of what it takes to be successful just through what I was a part of – I’ll be looking to build a club-first mentality by bringing the club together as one.”
Heidelberg will have to fight for the flag in 2021 without many of its experienced stars. Alongside Brunelli, Grimley and Blair, key forwards Chaz Sargeant and Christian Buyxk-Smith have applied for clearances from the Tigers over the past month.
“Chaz believes he’s only got one more year left of footy and he wants to have a year playing with some mates up in the country. We thank him for his services – he’s been fantastic for the club,” Nolan said.
“Christian has work in Geelong, so it’s just panning out that it’s best for his footy to probably stay down there.”
With plenty of gaps to fill, Nolan has helped develop a “really strong drive to find players from within the club” at Heidelberg. This includes around 20 young players between the ages of 18 to 20 from Heidelberg’s junior program that Nolan expects to push for senior games.
This development will be aided by the full-time commitment of VFL players such as the Schnerring brothers, Josh Minogue and Nick Richards, who have all decided to play the entire season at Warringal Park.
“There’s a big group of them who have fallen back and are just happy with Heidelberg and what the club has given them, so they are happy to play full-time,” Nolan said.
“Essentially it feels like we’re gaining 11 players because they’re training all of the time with us, so we can structure drills and game plans around them at training.
“They have just fully bought into Heidelberg, rather than hoping to play at their VFL club and then falling back to play two or three games a year with us.”
In a further boost to the club’s playing stocks, Heidelberg has also secured the full-time services of former Collingwood VFL vice-captain Matt Smith and Coburg midfielder Keenan Posar.
Smith will also take over as a senior assistant coach to provide valuable assistance to Nolan.
“I want them (Smith and Posar) to firstly enjoy the place, and then just try and step up a bit in a leadership role,” Nolan said.
“I think both will be very important in critical times in games, but they’ll also be valuable in just showing the younger players what level of training they have to be at.”
Despite experiencing a significant change to its playing list over the past 18 months, Heidelberg has covered the player departures with a keen blend of experienced and young talent.
Nolan has already made sure Warringal Park is a place where “a footy club is run as it should be run”, with the connection between the men’s, women’s and juniors’ sides remaining strong.
It places Heidelberg in a position to contend for a finals spot in 2021 – a goal that Nolan believes is not too daunting for his young squad. But there are also deeper standards that Nolan will be holding himself and his club to in the coming season.
“The club always sets pretty high standards – we’re certainly one of the ten clubs aiming to play finals football,” Nolan said.
“But I think another goal of mine is to make the club a better place on and off the field in regard to personnel.”
“I don’t like to fall back on the ‘we’re young’ line, but we are a pretty young group, so finding the balance between development as well as success is a primary goal.”
To prepare for a busy season, Heidelberg has three pre-season clashes scheduled to get its teams match-fit after a long lay-off from competitive games.
The entire club, including the women’s team, will travel down to Anglesea for a weekend of practice matches and to “create the dynamics required to be successful”.
The Tigers then take on Pascoe Vale and Old Carey on the road towards Round 1.
“I’m not a massive one on practice matches and playing four or so, but I think this year it’s pretty important due to having the year off, so we need to get as much game time into them before this season starts as we can,” Nolan said.
“There’ll be a bit more game sense stuff introduced earlier just to cover the time off and prepare the players’ bodies for the battle.”
Heidelberg’s 2021 home and campaign kicks off on Saturday April 10 when it hosts Hurstbridge.
