Darley Cricket Club are coming in strong to the 2021-22 season, despite coach Brian Wheelahan not able to attend trainings until this week.
Wheelahan is based in Melton, meaning he was cut off from the club as a result of COVID-19 travel restrictions.
Wheelahan said it has been a challenging time for him, trying to guide his club while resricted.
“For the last six to eight weeks, with my being in Melton, it’s been a little bit frustrating,” he said.
“Last year was worse… I missed the first three weeks.
“But the club’s in a fantastic position, we’ve got some great leaders.
“In terms of prep and numbers, that’s a positive.
“Everyone wants to get back into training for themselves.
“We can’t wait, and I can’t wait to get amongst the boys, and girls for that matter.
“We’re really looking forward to having another crack.”
Wheelahan said the strong leadership potential in the club allowed for the ‘slack’ of his not being at training in person to be picked up.
“There’s great leadership around the club,” Wheelahan said.
“We had blokes chiming in here and there, lending a hand and some guidance.
“Obviously we’ve had to adhere to a lot of protocols, to make everything COVID-safe, with check ins and all that.
“We’ve made it work.
“Everyone’s loving playing the game again, getting around one another.
“It hasn’t been ideal, but everyone’s in the same boat, so we’re not complaining.”
Wheelahan said that as the club technically joins the season as the reigning champions, they’re hoping for a “three-peat”.
“We’re technically back to back premiers,” Wheelahan said.
“We were crowned premiers and champions [in 2019], with a bit of mixed emotions.
“Last year was the icing on the cake… We did it the hard way, we did it the right way.
“We’ll definitely aim for a three-peat.”
Wheelahan said he wanted to see the club advance more than just the trophy case.
“I want us to be competitive,” Wheelahan said.
“We understand now we create a bit of a tension for ourselves.
“We’ve got a really nice age group [in the team] mixture.
“We’re in a really strong position… we just need to continue to improve.
“It’s such an even competition, if you’re not on your game, you can get bitten.”
Wheelahan said that beyond the strong results of his team, he’s more proud of attitudes within the club.
“The thing that I’ve been most proud of… we’re never out of the game,” Wheelahan said.
“Regardless of what the scoreboard suggests… we continue to fight to the death.
“We’ve been able to get out of tough situations… with a belief in ourselves.
“It gives you enormous belief to know you’re never out of the competition.
“We’ve got quality players, and a mixture of players.
“We’ve got the older, experienced ones, as well as the youth.
“We can be pretty hard to beat.”
Darley’s season will commence on Saturday, November 6.
Michaela Meade
