Being the new guy isn’t so bad. Just ask Burnside Heights president Justin Peagram.
Essendon District Football League’s newest senior team, the Bears have already secured their first win and have enjoyed great numbers on the track in all three senior divisions.
While the club has also had some losses in recent weeks, Peagram said he and his committee knew that was always on the cards.
“We knew from a competition point of view we were probably going to struggle a little bit,” he said.
“Just with the make-up of the players, a lot of them hadn’t played for a few years so it was about getting fitness, match practice and getting their skills back up to what they were when they last played. That was always going to be a challenge.
‘‘But we worked hard on their fitness, so at least we always had that as something we could control.”
Burnside’s maiden win came in round one, when the Bears beat Sunbury by 19 points.
But winning and losing is only a secondary concern for Peagram. He said that, after coming from an exclusively junior club, maintaining a positive culture was his major aim.
“Given that we have come from a junior base, we have been very strong on that [culture],” he said. ‘‘We have made sure that we’ve followed the right examples and aren’t falling into traps where we are pushing the wrong values and attitudes in our junior players.
‘‘In terms of the seniors, we wanted to make sure the senior coaching staff and players understood that.”
Burnside Heights had just 40 kids in its first season as a junior club.
Three years later, the club is bursting at the seams with more than 180 juniors running around in Bears’ jumpers.
With that number expected to rise in the coming seasons, Peagram is confident that senior success will follow.
“We are the only club in the EDFL that is not making player payments,” he said.
“Our senior players who have come on board understand that and appreciate that.
“All our coaches support the fact that from a success point of view, the club will only achieve that if our juniors are strong and they come into the seniors.’’
Liam Twomey
