MACLEOD coach Garry Ramsay says expectations placed upon his club will be considerably higher next season, following a giant-killing end to 2013.
Ramsay’s side only narrowly missed out on playing in the Division 1 finals last season, following wins against top-four sides Montmorency, Northcote Park and Heidelberg in the latter rounds of the year.
The Roos could well have been a genuine threat in September, but for a Round 18 draw with Greensborough that left them two points short of the top five.
Following the heartbreak of only just missing out on the finals, Ramsay said much more would be expected of his team in 2014.
“The expectations are a lot higher,” Ramsay told NFL.org.au.
“We’ll go in each week expecting to win, no matter who it is against and no matter where it’s at.”
“There are no more excuses and saying we’re young. A lot of blokes should be in the prime of their football now.”
Ramsay has every reason to be confident. After all, the Roos were the first team to beat Montmorency when they claimed a famous 10-point win in Round 14, before also beating 2012 grand finalists Heidelberg and Northcote Park away from home.
They lost just three games in the second half of the season – all by less than a goal – making them close to the form side of the competition after Round 10.
“We turned 2-7 and were almost favourites for relegation and we turned it around,” Ramsay said.
“There was a focus to not get relegated after losing six key players the year before and not really picking up anyone.
“The club was probably closer to relegation than playing finals but now there is a very high expectation that we will win more games than we lose.
“If you can do that you are deserving to make a difference playing finals.”
Entering his second season at Macleod, Ramsay said the pre-season would be about improving the team’s defensive structures, particularly in the forward half of the ground.
The club will also work on the strategies it employs during the dying stages of close matches.
The Roos managed just one draw from five games decided by less than 10 points throughout the season, where a win in any match would have handed it a finals berth.
“Every one of those close losses we lead with four minutes to go and it was our turnovers that cost us,” he said.
“We need to learn to hold onto the ball at certain stages and stop attacking.
“There are going to be times when they conflict because we became a very attacking team, but we kept attacking even in close situations when maybe experience in that situation would suggest otherwise.”
Ramsay said the close matches could eventually have a positive impact on his team, with each game providing the developing group with invaluable experience.
The return of Nick Lynch and Shaun Melican, plus the addition of Daniel Haynes from Epping, will bolster Macleod’s list, which will lose only Michael Sayers (overseas) and Dave Adams.
Ramsay expects the majority of the club’s improvement to come from within. Its under-19s team, which struggled last season, already contains a list of 40 players – 26 of which have trained over the opening three weeks of pre-season training.
That will complement the further improvement from the likes of Hamish Paynter, Ryan Storey, Hayden Seivers and Brad Leggett – a quartet Ramsay said took their game to another level in 2013.
“Hamish Paynter became a match winner and is probably very underrated in the competition,” he said.
“Ryan Storey is another kid who really came on. Hayden Seivers was a big improver and probably slipped under other sides’ guard and Brad Leggett had probably only played 10 senior games and now he’s in the team of the year.”
The emergence of Leggett in particular was one of the highlights of the club’s season. The youngster was named full-back in the Division 1 Team of the Year, earning him a call up to train with Essendon’s VFL team.
Macleod’s 2014 campaign will begin on April 5 when it makes the short trip to Warringal Park to take on Heidelberg.
