FOOTBALLS are yet to be bounced at Nirranda, but it’d be foolish to think the Blues are anything but the premiership favourite.
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That’s right – I’m going the early crow.
Nirranda’s off-season recruiting spree has been as intelligent as it has been impressive.
Any Warrnambool and District Football Netball League outfit which can lure former Koroit skipper Isaac Templeton, former Warrnambool forward Travis Graham and several other big names is going to be competitive.
But Nirranda will go beyond competitive. They’ll win the flag.
It’s a stark contrast to their 2016 premiership, in which they were the resounding underdogs against an undefeated Old Collegians.
The Blues have shaken that tag, only to emerge as a genuine favourite. You can’t look beyond the talent on their list to see that.
Consider this as a forward line – Graham, Jesse Dalton, Gary Robinson, Jack Primmer, Aaron Searle – the list goes on. Talk about firepower.
Third-year co-coach Shane Threlfall expected attacking flair to creep into the Blues’ gameplan with the addition of Graham, Dalton and Searle.
The danger in recruiting, of course, is that it can often pack up and leave as quickly as it arrives.
In Templeton, a career player at Koroit up until his shock switch to Nirranda, you don’t get that sense.
Nor in Nirranda’s other signings.
“We’ve built our side around team defence in recent years and while we don’t want to shy away from that, some of the personnel we’ve picked up allow us to be more attacking,” Threlfall said.
Their midfielders, with brothers John and Will Paulin, James Willsher and Danny Craven among others, are near elite and still relatively youthful.
And with both Brayden Harkness and Luke Weel capable of running through midfield while holding defensive posts, co-coaches Shane Threlfall and Shane Quick have a luxury of options to pick from.
Sure, Collegians, Kolora-Noorat and Timboon Demons will have something to say about Nirranda’s flag favouritism. You’d expect all three to challenge the Blues and they certainly can’t be dismissed as genuine contenders.
This season, it seems the stars have aligned for the Blues. All signs point to a Nirranda flag.
