BRONSON Saffin could not have predicted the opening period of his maiden season as the South Gambier playing-coach.
After taking over from Brett Exelby, Saffin hoped to lead the Demons to their first finals appearance since 2016.
However, the outbreak of coronavirus created an unexpected road bump.
It has delayed the start of the season and Saffin said the pause period has been a challenging time for football clubs.
“It is just an unknown because no one has gone through it before,” he said.
“Everyone will tackle it a bit differently, or similar, who knows.”
From a coaching point of view, Saffin said the current circumstances have been difficult to deal with.
“It was a bit of a kick in the guts for me as a coach,” he said.
“It is disappointing because you put in so much effort on a week-to-week basis, only for the rug to be pulled out from underneath you.
“It is really hard to push guys when I can not give them an answer for a start date.
“I feel for the players because all they want to do is play footy and suddenly they cannot.”
To tackle the restrictions on group training sessions, clubs have gone one of two ways.
Some have implemented programs for each player to complete, while others have left their men to their own devices.
Saffin said South has used the latter, but set a guideline for each player to meet when they return.
“There are not any set programs, but we have expectations,” he said.
“We expect guys to go for a couple of runs a week and do as much fitness stuff as they can.
“We try to keep in contact with our players as much as we can, but policing it is hard.”
Saffin hopes to maintain any momentum he felt the group gained over the summer.
The Demons hit the training track just after Christmas and played a trial match against Port MacDonnell.
Saffin said the coaching staff was satisfied with the progress made.
“We set high expectations at the start of pre-season and all the coaches were really happy with how things were tracking,” he said.
“We tried to instil a lot of confidence in the young fellas and we felt they were up and about.
“Fitness wise we had a pretty heavy pre-season and there were a lot of positive signs out of the trial match against ‘the Bay’.
“We were pretty confident we would be around the mark, so it is disappointing to miss out on the start of the season.”
During this period, South made a couple of changes to its list.
Robert Hein and Carl Slape will add some height to the playing group.
Patrick Glynn returns after a stint in Adelaide, while Ryleigh Franchetto and Elliot Ben are new additions.
If the 2020 Western Border season does begin, Saffin predicts the Demons to be a similar, but improved beast compared to last year.
“I play a very similar style of footy to Brett (Exelby), but we might throw some different structures in there,” he said.
“We have tried to throw a couple of fellas around in different positions, so we can be a little bit more versatile.
“That will give us more freedom, which could make it a little bit harder for opponents to match up on us.”
However the year now pans out, under the tutelage of a new coach, the Demons are as ready as any of their opponents in one of the strangest seasons the league has experienced.
