Sport
25 August, 2022
Tough year for Magpies
CAMPERDOWN Magpies will cast an eye towards finals football next season after fielding a young squad which showed patches of promise.
CAMPERDOWN Magpies will cast an eye towards finals football next season after fielding a young squad which showed patches of promise.
The Magpies finished the season with five wins to 13 losses, earning ninth spot on the ladder.
Senior coach Neville Swayn said he felt the “extremely young” side had shown flashes of potential, often keeping scores close but dropping games with passages of poor play rather than consistent poor games, which had been attributed to inexperience.
“Overall we’re disappointed we didn’t win enough games, with three teams above us on the ladder with one more win it would have been nice to win just two or three more,” he said.
“On the positive side, we’ve got 12 months of senior footy in to a lot of our younger guys now.
“For the club going forward I think we’re in a pretty good position to take off and get back up to where we should be in the competition.
“We’ve played some good footy and I felt we were starting to see the individual development.”
The Magpies made a habit of keeping games relatively close throughout but losing significant ground during sections of play, but Swayne said he felt growth became more evident as the season progressed.
“There was probably three or four games we just let slip with a quarter or 10 to 15 minutes where sides would really hurt us, which is probably inexperience,” he said.
“If you look back at the Hamilton game, we were down three and a half goals in the third quarter but ground it out and got over the top.
“It showed maturity in the group.”
Despite recording fewer wins than the team has come to expect, Swayn said the 2022 Magpies were one of the most “tight-knit” sides he had coached.
“They’re a terrific group who get along really well,” he said.
“That’s huge. I think in terms of being a close-knit side it’s one of the closest I’ve been involved with.
“It’s a credit to the club and the group too.”
Sam Gordon proved a bright spot for the Magpies, finishing fourth in the league in goals scored (60).
“He carried injuries for most of the year, so for his opportunities he’s backed up with another good year,” Swayn said.
“You look at younger guys such as Josh Place, Gus Gordon, Harry Sumner, Zach Sinnott and Ethan Coates and all those guys took really big steps with their development during the year.”
The Magpies will cast an eye towards taking the strides needed to play finals football next season, which Swayn said would have to start with player retention.
“We hope guys will stick around, and then we want to take the next step,” he said.
“The next step is to get back in to finals.
“There will already be improvement with some boys coming back after a year away, but there is already improvement on the radar within the current playing group.”
