North Wagga coach Kirk Hamblin believes they’re playing their best football in his three years at the club but says the Saints will still go in as underdogs against Marrar on Saturday.
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It sets the scene for a blockbuster at McPherson Oval – taking on the league’s only unbeaten team on one of their biggest days of the year, ladies day and sponsors day.
It’s an occasion for Hamblin on a personal level too, going head to head with former coach, Shane Lenon.
“Sparks was my first senior coach and he gave me my first opportunity to play first grade so I know him pretty well,” Hamblin said.
“There’s a few things I use from him. He’s the ultimate motivator, and I think the best thing about him is he seems to get the best out of his team, whether it’s fitness or just filling them with confidence.”
Hamblin said a hallmark of Lenon-coached teams, and a sign of that confidence, is their ability to put opposing sides to the sword.
The Bombers are averaging 115 points a game this year, and less than 55 against.
“They’re the team that have dominated sides this year, they’ve piled on some massive scores and had some really good individual performances which is definitely something we’re going to have to address,” Hamblin said.
“We know their biggest strengths are their small forwards and obviously Brad Turner seems to be in the form of his career so the more space those blokes get, the more dangerous they are.”
Restricting that space is obviously crucial and Hamblin is backing his men to rise to the challenge.
“No doubt our biggest strength’s our backline, the way they drop back and help each other out,” he said.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing (Marrar’s) forward pressure and our backs, how they operate. I think that’ll be great footy to watch.”
North Wagga have dropped just one game this year, against Temora, and head into the game with confidence.
“I think we’ve had two of the best games we’ve had since I’ve been at North Wagga, we’ve played a pretty consistent brand of football,” Hamblin said.
But, in just his second year as coach, Hamblin has learnt that consistency can be an elusive quality. And it only ever exists in the past tense.
That’s just one of many lessons handed out in a brutal introduction to coaching last year, when the Saints failed to make finals. And, on the eve of meeting an old mentor, Hamblin is the first to admit that experience counts for plenty.
“Last year when I come into the role, I was probably a little bit naive,” he said.
“It’s probably a little bit embarrassing to realise how little you know about football until you start taking on the coaching role.
“Now I think professionalism is the main thing I push to the boys. Most of our team do a lot of training outside of actual training sessions and our recoveries are pretty spot-on. Yeah, the boys are really disciplined in their approach.”
In a telling sign of where the Saints are at on their own journey, the club will also celebrate a milestone for their longest-serving current first grader on Saturday when Troy Curtis plays his 100th game in the seniors.
“Five years ago, the club turned a new corner and a lot of older blokes finished up or retired and there’s a bunch of kids starting to come through and we’re starting to see the rewards of these kids,” Hamblin said.
“For Troy to play his 100th game – it mightn’t sound like much to clubs that have got blokes playing 200 or 300 games – but at the North Wagga footy club it’s massive in terms of where we came from.”
In the current group, there is next to no memory of celebrating a major player milestone since the Saints came out of recess a decade ago.
“We’ve only had a young squad for a while so everyone’s sort of had to be a leader at the club,” Curtis said.
“It’s a good culture, starting to be a good family club. Everything about it, it brings us all together as one big unit.”
Curtis, 24, is relishing life on the wing again this year after spending much of last year switching between defence and attack.
“It’s been good. I like being on the wing, a bit more running and try and get sucked down forward and kick a few goals. I don’t think the forwards like that,” he said.
Curtis credits Nigel Smith, Matt Howarth and Nathan Dowdle with being an influence on his career early and in more recent seasons said he has learnt a lot from captain Ned Mortimer.
The ‘young veteran’ said there’s a feeling that the Saints are getting back on track after last year’s disappointment. But he’s wary of Marrar at McPherson Oval in what’s likely to be another step up.
“I’ve heard a lot about them but I don’t know what to expect really,” he said.