BERWICK had just become the third team, in four rounds of footy, to take top spot on the SEFNL ladder after a grinding victory over a desperate and determined Doveton on Saturday. Wickers’ coach Rhys Nisbet spoke to the Gazette’s Dave Nagel after the match about how the day, and the season to date has unfolded.
Rhys, you put it on your boys at three-quarter-time to put a huge question mark that has been hanging over this club to bed. They really stood up, you must be proud?
Very proud, because we spoke about the question mark that keeps coming up, that clubs thrive on when they play Berwick, and it was just really important today to knock that on the head, the boys did that today, they were great.
I know you’re not going to talk about the circumstances of some of your players coming off the ground, but it was gutsy win, with Michael Harold (concussion), Steve Sigeti (broken nose), Timmy Vrevc (ribs) and Jayden Joyce (ribs) all injured on the day?
Definitely, it was gutsy, and that’s what makes you so proud. I won’t say too much, but we just expect our players to be protected out on the ground, that’s first and foremost, and that’s how it should be. We’ve got a new breed around here now, that are not going to stand for any of that stuff and they’re really proud to wear a Berwick jumper.
Let’s forget about this game against Doveton for a minute, the issue of protection for players should be an umpire’s number-one responsibility shouldn’t it?
Look, as I said, I don’t want to be drawn into anything, but I encourage my boys to go as hard at the contest as they can, and they’ll get protected, that’s what you get told from under-12s. It was just disappointing today because I don’t think our players got protected at all.
Rhys, tell us about the number 29 jumper that was hanging up on the scoreboard today. John Callery, a best and fairest winner and premiership player passed away last night (Friday), did you mention that to the boys before the game?
Yeah I did, I went over his achievements at the Berwick Football Club, he was a great man Johnny, a great man, a really good bloke, and I just think it’s important the players understand the history of the Berwick Football Club. It’s a good history back through the 70s and 80s, so yeah, it was important.
Coaches are judged by wins and losses and you blokes have recovered well after 0-2 start to the season. You must be comfortable with that recovery as you head into the bye?
Yeah, and the break couldn’t have come at a better time for us right now. The boys really do need a rest and we’ll freshen up really well. We were really disappointed to drop those first two games, but you’re right, it is all about wins and losses and to drop just two games until this point of the season is great for us.
Madi Andrews was fantastic today; he had a good tagger in Shaun Semmens by his side all day, but broke him early in the last quarter and really set an example for the young blokes to follow?
Madi said to me at half time that’d he’d break by three-quarter-time, and I think he did, he just knows how he’s going against the other bloke, he’s got a good sense of that. In terms of the young blokes, Jake Yields had a great second half, Timmy Vrevc did a good job on (Sam) Raru, and in the last quarter, when we needed a spark, it was blokes like Brody Connelly and Timmy Gunn who stood up. It was their turn today.
You stood up today Rhys, but teams take notice and with these types of results come the burden of expectation. Are you blokes ready for that?
It’s a boring answer, but it’s the old week at a time for us. As long as our work rate doesn’t drop off, which I say all the time, we’ll be OK, we’ll be alright. We can’t afford to drop off on the training track because, if we do, we’ll start to drop off on weekends. It’s all about our work rate for us, the rest will take care of itself.
