ST MARY’S coach Con Borg insists a slightly interrupted pre-season will be beneficial for his club as he enters his fourth year at the helm of the Burra.
Ground availability has resulted in St Mary’s only being able to gather as a group once a week, however Borg has taken this opportunity to put some onus back onto the players.
“It has sort of forced our hand a little bit to do something which I have been keen to try for a few years,” he told NFL.org.au.
“The boys have been training in their own little groups with running programs to do, and it’s worked exactly the way we wanted it to with training attendance up 33 percent.
“That way they can choose their own training times around work or other commitments. It’s been good for everyone I think. It’s refreshed the guys up and it’s definitely freshened me up.”
A new training regime isn’t the only way Borg has looked to freshen up the club, also elevating former Reservoir premiership forward Toby O’Meara as a playing senior assistant coach.
“He played with us last year and will take a fair role during the week,” Borg said.
“We are just trying to implement a different voice and he is a guy that everyone respects a hell of a lot.”
After a reserve grade premiership last year and a first senior finals appearance since 2012, Borg believes the depth of the club’s list is the reason why the Burra can be competitive at the pointy end of the Heidelberg Golf Club Division 3 season in 2017.
“We had an intra club the other day and all 36 blokes running around could easily play senior footy in my view,” he said.
“We’ve lost a bit of experience but also added a bit too in Bart Walsh from Leitchville Gunbower, as well as Joel Buckley and Leigh Sullivan from Glenroy.”
Borg has also been impressed with second-year St Mary’s player Luke Shaw, who played in the reserves premiership last year and looks to have taken his game to another level.
“He has been probably the stand out to come back in the condition that he has. Luke’s an extremely good footballer and he looks like he will be basically a new recruit for us,” Borg said.
Ahead of their first round match up against last year’s beaten grand finalist Epping, the Burra will play practice matches against Lower Plenty and Jacana in the coming weeks.
St Mary’s will be looking to make amends for a disappointing finish to the 2016 season, where it blew a 27-point lead in the third quarter of the first semi final against South Morang.
