By Jonty Ralphsmith
Reigning Division One premiers Cranbourne once again look like it will be a team to beat in 2023.
Led again by Brandon Osborne, the Eagles started their season a week early, with a marquee Good Friday grand final rematch and looked far too strong for Cheltenham.
The midfield looked slightly different from the team that won the premiership at RSEA Park last September, but once again under the tutelage of Steve O’Brien, the focuses remained the same.
“Our core principles will stay the same as a midfield group but the balance of what we have in there will change a little bit and we hope that’s pretty exciting for us,“ O’Brien said.
“It’s all about winning the contested ball and being able to transition offensively and defensively, you can’t just work one way so that’s been a big focus of us.”
The retirement of legendary forward Marc Holt has left an irreplaceable hole inside 50.
The likes of Nick Darbyshire, Kirk Dickson, and Tyson Barry will be relied upon more heavily to impact the scoreboard while O’Brien says there are other things to address to increase the number of goals scored.
“You can’t replace a local great – it’s as simple as that, so we need a greater spread from our forwards, our midfielders,“ O’Brien said.
“When we reviewed last year we probably weren’t happy with the number of goals kicked from our midfield so we see that as an area we can improve.
“Outside of that if everyone can chip in and do their bit we will get a score that is competitive.
“Historically under pressure we could bang it in there and let the big fella do his stuff, this year we don’t have that so we have to work on the way we bring the ball inside 50 and be a bit smarter with our entries…because we can’t rely on the big fella to weave his magic.”
PLAYER MOVEMENT
While there are a slew of returning players who will essentially be recruits for the Eagles, they have also lost some talent.
Beyond the aforementioned Holt, midfielder Jake Carosella and fellow premiership player Luca Bellenvia have departed for Rosebud.
Adrian and Nick Russo are now at Emerald and Ryan Davey and Curtis Barker also won’t be returning.
While acknowledging the impact of losing some prime movers, O’Brien is confident that the players who missed 2022 through injury can more than adequately fill those shoes.
Leadership group member Dylan Cavalot showed his class in his first official match back on Friday.
Casey-listed Jarrod Barker played on limited minutes and got cleaner as the match went on and Jake Stephens also played in round one.
8 TO WATCH
Zak Roscoe: A hard in-and-under ball-winner who not only wins clearances, but is also capable of hitting his kicks when driving out the front of stoppage, Roscoe is arguably the leader of the midfield group. With a few names in the mix who weren’t there in 2022, he’ll be important from a continuity perspective and has developed his leadership across preseason.
Kirk Dickson: Missed the first game, but is a crucial ingredient forward of the footy for Cranbourne, particularly in the absence of Marc Holt this season. Plays as a lead-up centre half-forward who creates a contest inside 50.
Dillan Bass: Ultra-impressive in the first game against Cheltenham, he is a recruit who will excite plenty at Livingston Reserve. Traditionally a halfback, he will play forward of the footy in 2022 and his power and presence make him a difficult match-up
Tom Clappers: The player who Cranbourne nominated to be part of the Brad Crouch-coached development squad. Is one of several young players that will get several looks in 2023.
Brandon Osborne: Will once again skipper Cranbourne in 2023 as a trusty general behind the ball who will always close down his man. As well as his voice and calming experience on-field, he is a culturally important player off it; much of the same could be said of his brother, Glenn.
Ryan Jones: A player who you just know you can count on to produce a lionhearted four quarter effort, he started the season off strongly and is a week-in week-out contributor.
Tyson Barry: The diminutive forward completed a VFL preseason at Casey and put on several kilograms of muscle. Having not played for Dandenong Stingrays, he emerged from relative obscurity in 2022 as a creative small forward with innate goal sense and plenty of tricks to work with. Will take another step in 2023 and has plenty of upside.
George Grey: Don’t expect him to play much footy at Cranbourne, for the Casey listed player has been touted by Dees coach Taylor Whitford as a mid-season draft possibility. When Casey has byes, though, expect him to tear it up through the midfield. Plays in attack at Casey.
COACH
Steve O’Brien recommitted on a multi-year deal to take the Eagles forward in the off-season.
He was initially let go as the club sought a leader who could commit longer term before coming back to the club, which said there would be a greater focus on developing assistant coaches and youth.
“Something we’ve been doing each year I have been at the club more and more is delegating more responsibility to assistant coaches for their development and giving the leadership group some responsibility during training,” O’Brien said.
“You learn to adjust and become more of an overall manager and hand over a lot of the day-to-day responsibilities to other coaches for their progression and that’s a big thing we’re doing.”
Under O’Brien, they look every chance of going back-to-back after a strong win on the weekend over challengers Cheltenham.
“Knowing the quality of people we have at our club, we’re not satisfied with winning one,“ he said.
“Once I was reappointed, the talk was let’s have a crack at back-to-back, and we know that’s going to be bloody hard, but that’s what we want to achieve.
“We have got the guys who missed out have an opportunity at winning one themselves and the young kids coming through – who’s the next Tys Barry?
“Hopefully there are two or three of them who can help take us forward again this season.”
SOUTHERN LEAGUE
In the club’s first year in the Southern Football Netball League, it won the premiership.
Cranbourne crossed to the SFNL from the discontinued South East Football Netball League and league Chief Lee Hartman said the Eagles have been embraced by other clubs.
In being such a strong club, O’Brien’s men have lifted the competitiveness of the league while also fitting in culturally.
The coach was equally positive when speaking about the 2022 transition from Cranbourne’s perspective.
“I think it ended up playing out well for us,” he said.
“There were question marks on the standard but we were pleasantly surprised.
“In all competitions there are sides down the bottom that struggle but overall I thought there was a lot more depth in this competition than the previous one we were in, so there were bigger challenges more often, which is what our players were craving.”
Cranbourne Fixture
Round 1: Saturday 15 April v Chelsea Heights (away).
Round 2: Saturday 22 April v Dingley (home).
Round 3: Saturday 29 April v Bentleigh (away).
Round 4: Friday 7 April v Cheltenham (home).
Round 5: Saturday 13 May v St Pauls McKinnon (away).
Round 6: Saturday 20 May v Port Melbourne Colts (away).
Round 7: Saturday 27 May v Springvale Districts (home).
Round 8: Saturday 3 June v Mordialloc (away).
Round 9: Saturday 17 June v St Kilda City (home).
Round 10: Saturday 24 June v Chelsea Heights (home)
Round 11: Saturday 1 July v Dingley (away).
Round 12: Saturday 8 July v Bentleigh (home).
Round 13: Saturday 15 July v Cheltenham (away).
Round 14: Saturday 29 July v St Paul’s McKinnon (home).
Round 15: Saturday 5 August v Port Melbourne Colts (home).
Round 16: Saturday 12 August v Springvale Districts (away).
Round 17: Saturday 19 August v Mordialloc (home).
Round 18: Saturday 26 August v St Kilda City (away).
