By Nick Creely
A new league, new colours, and a new identity – the Narre South Saints are ready and raring to make its mark in the Southern Football League in 2021. The club – formally known as St Francis Xavier OC – formally shifted to the league at the end of 2019 after winning the VAFA Division 4 premiership, and have forged a new identity and a flourishing relationship with the junior club at Strathaird Reserve. After a perfect start to its season and life as a new senior club on Saturday with an impressive win, we take a look how the Saints are looking in the Division 3 competition this year in this week’s Club In Focus…
Nickname: Saints
Home ground: Strathaird Recreation Reserve, Narre Warren South
Last premiership: 2019 (in VAFA Division 4)
President: Wayne Delaland
Coach: Scott Mackenzie
Captain: Stephen Chin
Last season (2019): Premiers in VAFA Division 4
Leading goalkicker: Harrison Coe (117)
Key ins: Jayden O’Brien, Rylie McLean, Bradley O’Brien (Doveton), Regan Hall (Frankston Dolphins)
What the coach says…
On what to expect from his group on-field
“We’ve got the introduction of plenty of young guys, so I suppose we’ll have a lot of speed. We’ll be looking at running the ball fairly quickly the majority of the time, but we’ll slow it down when we need to. I think we’ll be playing attacking football, I’ll put it that way. Coming out of the VAFA and into Southern, it’s a big test for us and we can’t wait.”
On playing on its new home deck
“We’ve had two years there now, so I suppose there is a bit of a home ground advantage. There’s a lot of guys in our side that haven’t played on our ground yet, so Round 2 might be premature to lock down our ground as an advantage, but we love playing there. As far as Southern goes, its probably an open ground, it’s not huge – it’s got good wings, so you can use the ball quite well.”
On the recruitment and list strategy
“To be honest, its all about culture for us – we don’t pay players, we didn’t pay anyone for the grand final year, so to retain most of those guys makes us pretty happy that we’ve built a culture that guys want to stay at. As far as the list, it’s a lot better than our 2019 list, more because we’ve got some really good experience coming in through with Danny Brewster and Nathan Brewster, and we’ve got the Chin brothers (Stephen and Daniel) still being there which is great. We’ve also got a lot of youth coming through too, it’s a really good mix actually, so it’s exciting.”
Next four games: vs South Yarra (17 April), vs Ashwood (24 April), vs Black Rock (1 May), vs Doveton Eagles (8 May).
More: It’s been a long time coming for the Narre South Saints, who have entered the 2021 Southern Football League with eager anticipation about what’s ahead of them.
After formally making the change across from the VAFA and Southern at the end of 2019, shifting the club completely and re-branding itself, there was an element of disappointment about 2020, and not getting the chance to put all the work from all involved into fruition, but for the club, the cancellation of the season has been a major catalyst for the strong numbers and interest in the club.
But president Wayne Delaland told the Gazette that 2021 has brought renewed enthusiasm.
“Season 2020 was going to be our foundation and launch year, and it was pulled away from us like most people did, so we had to sit idle,” he said.
“I think it was a blessing in disguise for us, we were able to take stock as a club as we enter a new league – it brought a breath of fresh air to the club, and expansion wise it was far greater than what we could imagine.”
Delaland said that Mackenzie, his coaching group, and the players couldn’t be more prepared for what lies ahead.
“There’s plenty of people that think we shouldn’t be there, but as a club we’re up for the challenge – we’re prepared, and our 18 months of preparation will show,” he said.
“It’s a brand-new league, so we’re looking forward to seeing where we sit. Given our playing list, we feel we can be top four, but time will tell.”
On Saturday, the Saints couldn’t have begun life in the new league and with the new identity in a more impressive fashion, snaring a 17-point win away from home against the highly-fancied Endeavour Hills, a side senior coach Scott Mackenzie said in the pre-season is one of the benchmarks.
What is impressive about the Saints is the fact that they’ve lost very little of its 2019 premiership list as St Francis Xavier, suggesting there is a stability and understanding amongst Mackenzie’s group that will hold them in good stead.
There’s no doubting that there will be moments that don’t go the way they want, that’s the nature of football and the unknown of a new league, but with a healthy crop of juniors, stability in its leadership and depth within the list, expect the Southern newcomers to be a major threat.
