Colt Corner - Round 17, 2018
Tuesday, July 24, 2018 - 8:45 AM
Subiaco Colts coach Beau Wardman sits down following the Subiaco Colts last bye of the season to provide an update of the goings on around the Colts squad.
With the Subiaco Colts sitting top of the ladder, one win and percentage clear of the field, the next five weeks present a great opportunity for the young Lions to continue to build the strong foundation for September action.
Hear how the boys are enjoying their current form and what they are looking forward to about what lies ahead, in Colt Corner.
Beau, the wins have continued to mount up over the past few weeks, your boys have rolled to a six game winning streak and sit top heading into the last bye of the year, how impressed have you been with the current winning streak?
The boys have been really committed to each other on and off the field. I think the wins are reflective of the environment we have set, continual improvement and challenging each other to be better. We don't focus on the scoreboard as a coaching or playing group but have some indicators which give us focus each quarter and game. It is great reward for the effort the staff and players are putting into the program. Really happy for the boys.
Seems very quickly your group has embraced a winning culture. Worth repeating in 2015 and 2016, Subiaco Colts won just four games, last year you increased it to eight and this year 10 so far, how have you been able to change this group to embrace a winning culture?
Coming into the club a couple of years ago there were some really glaring areas in which we could improve from a development perspective. If the wins are a reflection, we have got some of these things right. We recognise there is still a lot of room for improvement but it is pleasing. We have put a focus on skills, contested ball winning and work rate. It is an important part of our players development that they understand what it will take to be successful senior footballers and that is what we are instilling in the playing group. The senior team is a great model for the young Subiaco players to follow - they work harder than any team on and off the field and get the results from that. We are instilling and living our club values.
I believe your goals at the start of the season were to play finals, that has been locked up now, does it change how you set your goals for the last five games heading to finals?
Look finals is really an outcome. We can’t focus on that because we don’t control it to a large extent. What we can control is how we run training, as coaches our education for players, as players our consistency in effort and execution. Making sure each session, each game we are looking to be better than we were the day before. Wherever we finish at the end of the 18 games will reflect the work we put in. As a coaching group we had a bit of reflection on what area’s we can improve in, we know there is a bit of work still to be done in the remaining 5 games - thats exciting.
Impressively, your winning streak has not come at the expense of development. Sandon Page, Trey Kennedy, Nick Martin, Tyler Broughton, Harvey Bishop and Jack Borchet are all young players who have been given opportunities, how important is it to maintain a development path, while still winning footy games?
We want to expose as many players as we can when they deserve the opportunity. We recognise consistency in skill execution at training, intent and ability to win the ball, game understanding and living the values. The have played three players from our 16s group, country players from Esperance and Kalgoorlie and also give some opportunities to our PSA group is really positive. Our leaders and senior players really set a strong culture at training and on game day to embrace the players coming in. It can be a steep learning curve but to have support around, that’s what we want to create.
Your last couple of wins have both been significant, beating Peel after a tight struggle for a half, to claim top spot was an impressive win?
Peel are a really well organised, disciplined and well coached team. I have seen first hand their ability to develop young players and they have a large district to draw from. The players really got themselves up for the contest against Peel after a big win against West Perth. We had a few young boys in the team and they really embraced the challenge.
The game against Peel again saw your side embrace NAIDOC Week celebrations and wear the Subiaco NAIDOC jumper for the second year in a row. How important do you see embracing NAIDOC Week to your group?
It is the second year in a row the colts group have celebrated the NAIDOC Week which is a great initiative. Our indigenous players each spoke on the Thursday night before the game about their background and culture. Duane Oxenham-Smith, one of our vice-captains, initiated an exchange of gifts with Peel pre-game. Subiaco has a rich history with Indigenous players and to be involved in the celebration is great education for our players.
Last week before the bye, terrible conditions, but your boys really raised to the challenge, laying 124 tackles and really benefiting from that tough contested football you seem to want your team to set a basis on?
Some of the toughest conditions to play football in. At one point I think half the oval was underwater. Our boys have been committed with their pressure consistently this year - its one of our trademarks. South Fremantle really came out strongly and we had to withstand great pressure from them. Luke Foley had a career high 11 tackles and we had more than half the team lay 5 or more tackles - shows a bit about their attitude.
It has been a good collective team effort over the most recent win streak, but to highlight a couple of strong individual efforts, Tristan Hobley is averaging 28 possessions and five tackles and Liam Hickmott 25 possessions and six tackles, these guys have been important in the midfield?
Tristan has been really good. We recognised the disappointment in not getting selected in the state team, but that was outside of his control. To his credit he has focused on some feedback and is playing some really good football in a mix of inside and outside roles. Liam has been really consistent for much of the year and has stepped it up again. Along with Jake McKinnon, Zane Shellabear-Healey and Kyle Stainsby they have really all stood up. We have also had really great contributions for younger boys Abraham Clinch and Ben Golding in recent weeks which is testament to our depth developed.
Your defence has also really tightened, averaging just 41 points against in the last five, is there anything specific that has seen your defence really improve during this past five games?
They are a really competitive bunch. Our backs coach Chayce “Dewy” Creedy has them playing really confidently, they support and cover for each other really well whilst providing good rebound in offence. Our backs job is made a little easier because of our total team defence. We encourage players, maybe demand, that they can come forward and defend, from the forward pocket to the full back - it’s a total team responsibility.
Finally up forward, Jack Mayo is the clear leader in the WAFL Colts leading goal kicker award, outside of some inaccurate kicking, much to like about how Mayo has improved over 2018?
Jack has been really consistent hasn’t he. In recent weeks, he has played a bit more of a team role and I think thats important for him going forward. We will continue to work on a couple of areas but is a real long-term player for the Subiaco FC. Jack has a beautiful kicking action and strong hands overhead despite his stature. Nick Visser has done a fair bit of work with Jack on his routine and consistency, but Jack also embraces the challenge and works hard on his game.
Last bye week of the year for your boys, anything different this week, or really just continuing to focus on these last five games and look ahead towards finals?
We really broke up they bye week. It is a long season and it is important to keep things fresh. Neil Arnold hosted us at Balga SHS on Monday night with an indoor skills session and on Thursday we had a multi-event games night - a bit of fun for the players before the weekend off. Big Sam Di Francesco showed his long bomb ability launching a 70m torpedo to win the comp. It will be back to business in the lead up to Claremont but there will be a few changes for the players along the way.
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