Max Hatzoglou
Melton Phoenix coach Darren Traynor says a buy-in from the players and enjoyment of the game has been the key to their success this season which has them sitting on top of the Men’s State League 5 West ladder.
“It’s been a fairly consistent start which is what we’ve been aiming for,” Traynor said.
“Just the buy-in from the players, I’ve got a young squad and the buy-in has been really good, really pleasing thus far.”
The Phoenix have recorded wins in all but one of their first six matches of the season which Traynor has put down to the culture the players have brought in.
“The culture’s been good, they’re driving a lot of it,” he said.
“It’s been a pleasure to really coach this team to be perfectly honest with you, they’re driving it, they’re setting the standards, I’m just happy to be part of it at the moment.”
Traynor took over as coach in 2020 during Covid after coaching stints at Sunshine George Cross NPL youth teams.
Speaking about the difference from last season to now, he put it down to the new personnel which he has brought in, many who previously played under him at George Cross.
“It’s a new team basically, apart from three existing players there from last year, the rest are new, it’s a new team full of youth, it’s fairly young,” he said.
“I really just put it down to the change in clientele, going with younger players who are all similar in age and they just enjoy each other’s company, not that there was anything wrong with the squad I had previously.
“It’s just a different age demographic and they’re enjoying one another’s company on and off the pitch.”
It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the club however, as challenges presented at the very beginning of the season with finding players.
“It was challenging probably the first three weeks of the preseason, it was a little bit of a concern but all be it even if I didn’t get the players that I got, I still would’ve tried to play some form of decent football with the squad I would’ve formed,” he said.
“I was always going to be organising and trying to play a decent brand of football regardless of the calibre of players I had, but I always felt that I always had the support of the club no matter what.
“The club is well run by our president Michelle Williamson, from Michelle down there’s a lot of support.
“We’ve got brand new clubrooms, they’ve come up a treat, we’ve been in them since round one and they’ve been superb.
“We’ve got a really good backing at the club, a really good support base, ex-players and members come down and Melton’s got a really good following to be honest, even when we are on the road we always seem to get good support so there’s really nice people around.
“All that has helped to get to where we are today.”
Traynor’s next step is to try and get the club up to the next division.
“To be honest my goal has always been to try and compete for promotion and try and get the club up to state league four because it’s got the facilities there, the infrastructures great, it’s a well run club.”
