By Tyler Lewis
Rowville went from a once inauspicious football club, to contending on the day that mattered most.
Although an incredible achievement in itself, Hawks coach Ben Wise insisted his players use the pain to go one better next season.
OCTOBER, 2022
Rowville coach Ben Wise is urging his players to embrace the agony they felt after their grand final defeat to Noble Park.
The Hawks claimed the Eastern Football Netball League Premier Division minor premiership with a stunning 16-2 home and away record, but Wise’s men stumbled at the final hurdle, leaving him with the task of the post-game speech every coach fears.
“I suppose it’s still a bit raw and it was pretty emotional for the boys, my message was to let it burn, you don’t want to feel like this at that point of the season,” he said candidly.
“I thought we got outplayed in the end by a better side on the day, they were cleaner, they used the ball better, adjusted to the conditions better and hunted a bit better than us.
“Whether that was off the back of having one game in a month, maybe, we just weren’t sharp enough.
“I now dissect our prep and what we did over that month in case we’re in that situation again.
“I am really proud of the way they conducted themselves all year and to put ourselves in the position to be in the last game of the year.”
AFL side Sydney became the 11th outfit since 2000 to the have lost a grand final by 40 points or more, with each of the 10 before the Swans failed to win a final the following season.
Despite going down to the tune of 47 points, Wise is certain the AFL stat won’t apply to his group.
“I think it’s a bit different to the main league, for us there is so much growth in this group,” he outlined.
“We had a lot of players playing their first finals series at senior level, a lot of players playing in their first finals series full stop.
“For us it was a good learning curve, we’ve got exit meetings all this week to talk about what we need to do and what we need to get better.
“We’ve got to keep progressing, we need add elements where we can get better, we will evaluate that and put in a plan to make sure we’re competing at the back end of next year.
“I personally don’t think I need to go out and change things dramatically, what we did got us to where we got to.”
Wise further revealed just exactly where that growth is coming from.
“I think it comes from within,” he explained.
“You could easily go out and bring in certain players… but I think collectively we have to continue developing the guys we’ve got.
“I suppose that’s what I need to do over the next couple of weeks, where do we lack something, see what’s out there and see if we can attract people to the club.
“But the main thing for us I think is these 21-22 year olds playing their first year of senior footy because of Covid, they’re only going to get better.
“They’ve got to get in the gym and work extremely hard to come back fitter than they were the last year.”
