Hard work the catalyst for Kinglake in defeated start

Kinglake Football Netball Club have got off to a great start in the football ranks, winning all five games of the season so far to sit on top of the ATC Traffic Division Two ladder.

In their match against Warburton Millgrove over the weekend, they defeated the Burras by 83 points to stamp themselves as one of the teams to beat.

Reflecting on the Lakers brilliant start to the season, senior coach Andrew Fairchild was pleased with the efforts of his side but stressed they could not be complacent with where they are at.

“We’ve managed to win all five games which is great, but this has happened before in 2019 where we started the season 6-0 and ran out of petrol by the time the year finished,” Fairchild said.

“We have plenty of work to do and lots to improve on.”

The cancelation of the 2020 season has worked in Kinglake’s favour, as they used this time to work on improving the fitness levels of the playing group, including the younger ones in particular, who have effectively completed two full pre-seasons.

The entire Kinglake playing group are self-motivated individuals, who throughout a difficult 2020 were continuing to train where they could and engage with their teammates with the clear vision at the end of the tunnel of working towards an end goal.

The extra level of training as well as the growth of the young players has been one of the main reasons as to why have started off the season well.

Playing against a lot of strong teams in the Outer East competition where clubs are still finding their feet, Kinglake does not have an early rival in division two with Fairchild conscious that all clubs can beat his side if the Lakers do not play at their best.

After a 2019 campaign that resulted in a third-place finish and going out in straight sets in the finals, his expectations as senior coach is high, with making finals a clear aim initially.

“Our main focus has been to make finals, after that the destiny is up to us,” Fairchild explained.

“It would be great for the club if we could get up as 1994 was our last premiership, so we have definitely set out to achieve the goal of winning the grand final.”

A strong culture runs through the clubrooms at Kinglake, with the Lakers conscious of the importance of getting out on the field and enjoying themselves.

“If you have a strong culture, that bleeds a win,” he said.

“It’s also about getting out and taking a step away from normality and getting out with your mates and having a kick.

“We’ve had a big emphasis on winning but it’s not everything the club strives for, we are also trying to set the club up for the future as well.”

Fairchild thanked the entire playing group at Kinglake for their efforts to date and was appreciative of the hard work of the support staff across the football and netball ranks.

“The boys at the club are putting in an awesome effort at the moment to start the season as well as we have,” he mentioned.

“Also, the efforts of our volunteers who helped keep our football and netball club alive through the covid interruptions were phenomenal and we can’t thank them enough.

“We hope we are doing all our volunteers, sponsors and supporters proud.”