EXPERIENCED Kongorong playing-coach Will Whitty has seen it all during his career, but he has never encountered a season like this.
The 2020 Mid South East Football League competition has been postponed due to the current health crisis and it remains to be seen if a siren will be heard at all in the Limestone Coast.
With no return date set in stone, Whitty decided to give his players a breather during a typically busy period of the year.
“We have not pushed them to train much because the outlook is not great,” he said.
“The season is still up in the air, so we are just doing stuff on our own.”
Whitty said this method has been used to keep his players fresh after an extensive run on the training track.
“If you train from November and all of the way through with no season, it is a long time in country football,” he said.
“The risk of people losing interest is greater than the reward of an extra bit of fitness.”
The Hawks began pre-season early after the young squad finished seventh on the ladder in 2019.
Whitty said he hoped to continue developing the team over the summer and the results were promising.
“We started early because we are a very young group,” he said.
“The fitness needs to start early and build up, so we can start to focus on the tactical side of the game.
“In comparison to the year before, the side looked a lot sharper.
“We had done a lot more competitive stuff, so I think we would have been very competitive.”
After the months of hard work, Whitty said the playing group felt deflated when the bad news arrived.
“We put in a fair bit of hard work in the pre-season,” he said.
“So the boys put themselves into a position where they were fit and pretty excited about the year.
“So they are certainly disappointed and frustrated they cannot play.”
During the off-season Kongorong brought in a few recruits to strengthen the list, but Whitty kept the names a secret.
“We picked up a couple of ex-local lads who have played senior footy,” he said.
“We also signed a good young fella, but unfortunately he got home sick.
“Because we started behind the eight-ball, we are trying to keep our cards close to our chest.
“But our list is stronger than the year before.”
Although teams can return to training next week, the seven-time Mount Burr premiership player is worried some players wont be able to commit to a full season.
If action does not return soon, Whitty said outside factors may take priority over football.
“Time is ticking and if the season is pushed back longer into the year, it is going to be very difficult,” he said.
“Especially for a farming community like Kongorong because many guys will start focusing on hay baling.
“So it is going to be difficult to get some players to commit after that I would have thought.”
As South Australia takes small steps towards recovering from the coronavirus, Whitty hopes competitive football can return sooner rather than later.
