From the Footy Desk

As February rolls to March and pre-season action games commence in two weeks time, Subiaco Football Manager Michael Farmer checked in with an update from the footy desk.

From players who are excelling on the pre-season track, the ongoing list management challenges of a WAFL club and the support of a strong off-field team; are all covered in this Footy Update.

Read on for a comprehensive update as action gets close to a start in 2019.

Michael, only a few weeks away from pre-season games starting, what is your mood like and the overall football department mood to get into some game action?

I think excitement is the best word to describe it. It’s been a long pre-season and the players and staff are looking forward to the game day environment again. Beau and his coaching staff have been thorough in their approach to the off season and the club will look to build again in 2019.

How does the schedule look for the boys over the next month, we know of the three pre-season games, is there any other key parts to tick off before the start of the season?

We had our first intra club hit out on Wednesday night just gone, which gave the players a great opportunity to dust off some cobwebs before hitting the pre-season games in mid to late march. At this stage it’s about ensuring our coaches and playing group are comfortable in their preparation and training.

From a list management perspective, arguably picked up the best recruit for the year in Harry Marsh, how important was it to secure Harry’s commitment for 2019?

It was vitally important. Harry’s knowledge and experience of being in an AFL environment for several years adds that extra dimension to our playing group. With the retirements of some experienced players, it has certainly added more importance.

Likewise a number of players have come back into the club, do you think that shows the strong culture you have built where players do want to remain involved and are still eager to be a part of a successful team and culture?

Absolutely, the success, culture and professional environment this club is continuing to build will always attract players to come back. Players like Simon Moore, Ryan Vermeersch and Jo Scafidi have fitted back in seamlessly and seem to be really enjoying being here.

At the other end, disappointing to lose the likes of Chris Phelan, Adam Cockie and Brad Stevenson, always hard to replace experience, but must be players who are ready to take on additional responsibility?

All three have been wonderful servants of this footy club not only winning premierships but passing on their knowledge and experience and they will be really missed. But naturally their departure leaves opportunities open for players to take. Jack Beverley, Travis Cleggett, McKenzie Lawrence, Michael Braut just to name a few will look to cement some regular league games in 2019. We have also increased our focus on leadership in the club to provide more players the opportunity to progress this skill under Kellie Properjohn and the coaching staff so we should see that responsibility spread evenly through our senior teams.

Ruck is the one area that the experience seems to be lacking, are you comfortable about where the ruck sits from a list management perspective heading towards pre-season games?

Losing Zac Clarke to Essendon, who had a fantastic 2018, will be a huge loss but it opens the door for our young emerging ruckmen to take the role. Andy Doyle and Josh Chapman are developing nicely and Tim Sutherland has been training really well. Mach Deng who won a Colts premiership in 2018 has come into the senior system and seems to be improving and developing every session.

Speaking of the list management, a number of changes at AFL level that have the potential to impact state competitions, do you as footy manager need to be mindful of the mid-season draft and previous the supplementary draft period?

Its foreign territory with the mid season draft and with the success of last year and some of the high quality players we have, it would be remiss of us as a football club to not be mindful of the impact it can have. You never want to lose players mid season, but you also want to see players realise a dream of being on an AFL list. We are lucky to have some great coaches who continue to develop and build depth on our list to make sure that we cover off on any potential losses we have in that period.

Off-field had some changes to your support team, who from a support team capacity has given invaluable support to the players this pre-season?

Matthew Olds has come up from Colts to fill Dan Hiscock’s role and Strength and conditioning coach and with the assistance of Jake Shaw and James Hughes have done a really good job preparing the players. Craig King and Tanya Ferguson and their trainers continue on again in 2019 and have been excellent in their body of work. Coming into this role late last year, Alby Hawkins, Mick Bailey, Scott Flood, Troy Stafford and Rodney Reynolds have been amazing in their assistance with training and organising the property room. Likewise Scott Flood has been invaluable assistance to me, allowing for the program to run smoothly.