It takes a big effort to lift a side from down the bottom of the Central Highlands Football League ladder to a spot in finals in the space of 12 months.
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But that’s exactly what Marcus Goonan was able to achieve in 2016.
In his first year as senior coach at Daylesford, Goonan attracted a number of old faces back to the kennel and it helped the team achieve plenty of success.
After finishing 14th in Joel Adams’ last year at the helm, the Bulldogs powered straight back into the top eight. They upset Waubra in the elimination final before a competitive exit at the hands of Gordon a week later.
The hard part now is replicating last season’s efforts and improving on those performances.
This will be particularly difficult given Daylesford’s two best players have left the club.
Best and fairest winner Jordan Alexander – who finished equal second in the Geoff Taylor Medal count – and bona fide star Michael Cummings have been cleared to new homes.
However, there’s a good amount of recruits that are hoped to measure up at senior level this year.
Again, there’s some returning faces to the club like Jack Nulty, Will Austin, Zac Tisdale and Mitch Steen, while Luke Carland, Ricky Costanzo and Jake Nicholson are expected to add to the forward, midfield and defensive lines respectively.
Goonan said he is hoping season 2017 can be one of consolidation.
“It’s not uncommon for sides who have a good year after a poor one to drop back a little bit, so it’s very much about just consolidating our spot,” he said.
“We just need to consolidate, so if that’s finishing around about the same mark as we did before then that’s definitely our goal.”
The shock death of former president Bernie Jurcan during the off-season rocked the club, but Goonan said he feels the senior group is handling the situation well.
“I think the things we put in place last year are working to help, the counselling and all that sort of stuff that we have got on board,” he said.
“It’s going to be a long season, but it’s a pretty good, resilient group and I think they’ll get through it.”
Daylesford and Waubra will battle for the Bernie Jurcan Cup in round three this season, with that contest to follow the round two blockbuster against arch-rivals Hepburn.
