Boroondara Eagles technical director Manny Koutroulis believes WPL Grand Final defeat won’t define his club’s season, praising the players for a commendable 2015 campaign.
After a year that included an emphatic premiership win and a Team App Cup triumph, Koutroulis said that despite heartache in the Grand Final, it wouldn’t take away from the team’s earlier achievements.
“Certainly, we told them [the players] that we’re very proud of them this season. We had a great season, a project that started with Fil Simao and then Shaun Ontong came in,” he said.
“As you can see on the awards night, he wins coach of the year, we have a clean sweep in player awards and also our players, they’ve had so many big games where they’ve won.
“Today certainly doesn’t define our season. In many parts of the world, if you’re top after 22 rounds it’s the major premiership, here it’s called the minor premiership.
“That certainly defines our season, [as we’ve] won the league and cup double – it’s not often in a playing career that you achieve so much [in one season]. We certainly were very strong in our message that they should hold their heads high for their outstanding achievements this year.”
The Eagles were at times just inches away from nabbing the third goal deep in extra time to claim a thrilling victory, only to be denied by the woodwork or the offside flag.
Earlier, they had battled through Sky Jensen’s forced substitution that led to a backline reshuffle, though Koutroulis refused to point out potential turning points in the contest, simply conceding Boroondara had done enough to earn the winner that ultimately eluded the side.
“When I look back at the game, obviously both teams had their chances, but certainly we did feel a bit disappointed in the end,” he said.
“I thought in extra-time we really had some big, big chances; we hit the crossbar on a number of occasions and certainly [Shaun and I] felt really strongly in that final 15 minute period that we’d get a winner.
“In that respect when you look back on some of those changes and how we finished the game off, we certainly felt that in the end it was a game that just got away.
“We worked very hard tactically in this game and to lose an integral member of our back four in Sky Jensen was difficult at the time. When you change your central defender in any game at any level, it certainly is a reshuffle period. I though in that period, we struggled initially but in extra-time, our back four had settled.
The club’s technical director also paid tribute to coach Shaun Ontong, who led the side on an admirable league and cup run after joining the club following the commencement of the season.
Despite not having a pre-season to work with the team, the young manager achieved a season double via the Team App Cup and WPL Premiership, taking out the FFV Coach of the Year in the process.
“On a personal level with Shaun Ontong, I’ve know him in the past, this club has known Shaun in the past,” he said.
“He’s done some specialist coaching, which is a strong focus in our club. We have additional nights for players and Shaun worked in that capacity, impressing us greatly during that time.
“I also know Shaun through his work with Arthur Papas in India and I certainly did my homework. Shaun got a huge vote of confidence as a coach from Papas, who for me is one of the strongest coaches you could get a recommendation from.
“So when Arthur gave me that glowing recommendation, I was very confident that Shaun was the right man to go for. Arthur’s recommendation has been spot on and certainly Shaun Ontong hasn’t let us down and he’ll go on to have a terrific coaching career.”