KOONDROOK-Barham will be hoping to be the first team to burst Woorinen’s bubble this season – and they might just have the perfect man for the job.
Having spent nine years in charge of the Tigers, Marcus Demaria will coach against his home club for the first time when he leads the Raiders into battle Saturday afternoon.
After leading the Tigers’ two back-to-back premierships in 2018-19 as well as seven straight finals appearances, Demaria and Woorinen decided to part ways at the end of last season, with the veteran coach seeking a fresh challenge at a new club.
The challenge materialised in the form of Koondrook-Barham, with Demaria taking the Raiders from one win over the past two seasons, to five wins from their first seven matches and fourth place on the Central Murray ladder.
While the change of environments has clearly benefitted Demaria, so too has it benefitted Woorinen, with the Tigers sitting unbeaten on top of the ladder after the first eight rounds.
With Woorinen the team to beat at the halfway mark of the season, The Guardian spoke with their former coach ahead of Saturday’s encounter, with Demaria intimately aware of how big a challenge awaits him and his new team.
“I haven’t seen them play live so far this year, but I’ve been looking at their vision and they are playing some really good footy,” Demaria said this week.
“Most of them train together and they’ve been playing together for years, they connect very well, they move the ball very well and they defend the ground really well.
“I’ve coached some of those boys for a long time, so in terms of the individuals, I know the way they play and the way they defend.
“There might be some areas there that we could potentially exploit, but they’re a well balanced, strong team all over the park and when you have a look at it, there’s not a lot of weaknesses.”
There is a healthy respect from Demaria towards his former club, with the veteran coach acknowledging the Tigers’ competitiveness across the first eight rounds of the season.
But that respect flows both ways, with current Woorinen coach Tim Free expecting the unexpected from the much-improved Raiders on Saturday.
“There’s obviously plenty of respect between our playing group and certainly myself towards Marcus (Demaria) and collectively we’re looking forward to the challenge of facing him tomorrow,” Free said.
“There’s no doubt there’ll be a bit of noise in the lead up given Marcus’s contribution to Woorinen over a long period of time.
“We’re expecting that they’ll be ready to go and fired up for the occasion and for us, it’s another opportunity to continue what we’ve been building over the first half of the season.
“While we know it will be a big occasion, it’s still another game of footy that we will prepare really well for.
“We’ve trained really well this week and we’re expecting that he (Demaria) will throw a couple of surprises our way that we may not know about.
“What we do know though is that he’ll have his players in the right mindset to perform well, so we’ll need to prepare for their best.”
Although he would love to claim bragging rights first up, Demaria’s main focus will be on continuing to develop and mould his new playing group and is purely looking forward to testing themselves against the top side – despite a bit of friendly banter during the week.
“It’s been interesting as I’m still very close with all the boys (from Woorinen), a few of them have been getting in my ear and I spent a bit of time with them at the races as well,” Demaria said.
“There’s been some interesting comments, a bit of toing and froing and I’m sure it will be an interesting day, but it’s still business for us.
“We want to make sure that we’re competing well against the top team and full credit to Woorinen and Tim (Free) for what the boys have done so far to be undefeated at this point of season.
“It would feel pretty good to defeat the old mob I guess, but like I said, they’ve been playing some pretty good footy.
“From our perspective we just want to be competitive, put a decent side on the park and give it a good crack.”
