By Marcus Uhe
Saturday’s flag-unfurling ceremony at Casey Fields won’t be an unfamiliar scene for new Casey Demons senior coach Taylor Whitford, as his side begins the fresh season with a celebration of its 2022 achievements.
Stepping into the hot seat after two years as their senior assistant, Whitford’s time in football – and coaches boxes – has been intrinsically linked with premiership success in the last decade.
Before joining Casey, Whitford coached North Launceston in the Tasmanian State League to two premiership wins in 2018 and 2019, having captained the same side to glory in 2015 and 2017.
While it would be unique to many, taking over as a senior coach after winning a premiership rather than facing a rebuild, Whitford knows exactly what it will take to go back-to-back.
“I get to lean on (previous experiences) a little bit, but it’s just about building that dynamic in the group again,” Whitford said.
“From my point of view it’s about remembering 2022 as a successful season for the club, but we’ve moved on now, and first day of preseason was all around building the right habits in order to build that sustained success at Casey.
“We’ve been lucky enough over the last three or four years, even though it’s been Covid-19 interrupted, that we’ve had successful seasons down at Casey and we’re hoping to continue that.”
Having the pre-established chemistry and camaraderie with the playing group, the transition has been “smooth” for Whitford, supported by the established senior group of players in premiership captain Mitch White, James Munro, Matt Buntine and George Grey.
In the fortunate position of having witnessed plenty of success during his time in the game, Whitford believes familiarity within the squad is a key element of strong clubs and the ability to achieve the ultimate.
“I think each different team that I’ve been involved in has had their own little intricacies in how they go about it, but one consistency has been the connected-ness of the group and the willingness to play a role for the team,” he said.
“That’s a little bit around my coaching as well, and how we can connect together, implement the things we want to implement both on and off field, but also understanding what’s required in certain situations for certain players.
“We’ll be looking to build on those couple of things and hopefully it produces a couple of really good things this year.”
Supporting their endeavours to win it all again are former Dandenong Stingrays Finn Emmell-Brennan and Ziggy Toledo Glasman, along with Nar Nar Goon’s Patrick Cross, who played for the Gippsland Power last season.
With the first bounce merely days away after a long summer on the track, Whitford is excited to see what 2023 can bring, and won’t put a ceiling on what they can achieve.
“Pre-season’s been great but there’s nothing like the in-season mode of games week-to-week, whether we win or lose, we’re all about getting better and turning up next week,” he said.
“I’m super excited for the year that’s for sure.
“We’re coming into the year confident.
“We understand that our best footy is up there, but as I said previously, each year is a different year and we’ve just got to understand that, and not come in expecting things to role on.
“Definitely we’re prepared to start again, hopefully put in a good few weeks and assess our season from there, hopefully keep building and put ourselves in the top four or top six now.”
Saturday’s game against Footscray begins at 2.05pm, with the flag unfurling to take place beforehand.
