SOCCER
MARK Larner is the new senior coach of State 5 South outfit Mount Martha.
He fills the vacancy left by Chris Sanderson who succumbed to work commitments and stepped aside to concentrate on his duties as technical director and team manager of the senior and reserves teams.
Sanderson also liaises with the shire council so he’s been Mount Martha’s jack-of-all-trades as the club tries to come to terms with the demands of State League competition.
“Thursdays is a big day for me workwise and it’s also the club’s main training night,” Sanderson said.
“I missed the last two Thursdays of senior training last season and it’s just going to get worse so this change is in everyone’s interest.
“From our perspective it’s not such a massive change anyway as Mark’s been involved with the senior players and knows them really well.”
Larner was player-coach of the reserves last season and was in the seniors matchday squad “a handful of times.”
“I’ve gone from being a player to being a player-coach so I saw the senior coaching role as a natural progression,” Larner said.
But it won’t be easy.
The 41-year-old faces considerable challenges developing a young squad and carrying on the work Sanderson started a few years ago.
Sanderson had a successful under-18 side at his disposal and convinced Mount Martha to bite the bullet and apply for entry to the 2020 State Leagues.
“There really was nowhere else for those boys to go,” Sanderson said.
“If they had gone into the next level of junior competition they wouldn’t have developed to the extent that they are doing playing against men.”
Sanderson knew throwing a junior team into senior football would severely test the players but he convinced the club that it was part of a five-year plan to create a competitive squad that could challenge for honours.
The pandemic ruined the 2020 season and severely curtailed the 2021 season.
Mount Martha finished last in 2021 winning just one and drawing one of 14 games and this year the side played 20 games winning four and drawing twice to finish second bottom.
But Larner’s not fazed and has set a target of “between eight and 10 wins next season.”
“It’s ambitious but its achievable,” he said.
“I reckon continued improvement would be to at least double what we did last season.
“Many of the games were decided by one or two goals due to individual errors and inexperience.
“I think that can be addressed with a few tweaks and a few extra players but even if we just went with the existing (player) base we could easily win around eight games.”
Larner has had contact with players he knows from his time at Seaford.
He played with Mornington and Seaford and was set to coach the latter’s reserves when COVID-19 struck and he then switched to Mount Martha.
“Yes there’s been early conversations around some players,” he acknowledged.
“The good thing for us is that we’ve got a strong base of young players so we’re the opposite of a lot of local clubs looking to get youth in to complement their seniors and build their reserves.
“We’re looking for some senior lads to complement what we’ve got.”
Larner’s team manager agrees.
“Right now if we’re honest we’re probably five or six players short of having a true first team squad but the whole club understands that we’ve got the next three years to really hit our straps,” Sanderson said.
“Bringing in a couple more experienced players would be great.
“”Look at what Adam Martin from Seaford did for us this year.
“He’s a brilliant lad both on and off the pitch, just tremendous around the club, so a couple more like him really strengthens us.”
Having Larner at the helm frees up Sanderson to focus on one of his other roles – club technical director – that is crucial to Mount Martha’s future.
“My role as TD is not just to oversee the coaching but I can look at the next batch of youngsters coming through.
“We want our juniors to play at A and B levels where the competition is far stronger than C and D levels.
“That’s the pathway we want to develop.
“No disrespect to juniors playing at C and D levels but it’s unlikely that they’ll go on and play senior football at a good level.”
Larner is currently on a family holiday in Queensland but when he returns he’ll ramp up his quest for new players.
He’ll also start pre-season training.
“I’ll definitely be having conversations before Christmas to start to get new bodies in and we’ll dust the cobwebs off with a not-so-structured casual pre-season before Christmas.
“But come early January we’ll start a full pre-season in earnest.”
And if Larner’s prediction for next year is correct then Mount Martha could clinch a mid-table finish and that would be the biggest step yet in the club’s drive to establish itself in State League.
In other news Frankston Pines held its annual presentation night last week.
Jordan “Caka” Avraham won the senior best and fairest award with Ryan Ratcliffe runner-up.
Ratcliffe won the senior Players’ Player award and Liam Baxter won the senior Golden Boot award.
Aiden McKenna made a clean sweep of reserves awards winning the best and fairest, Players’ Player and Golden Boot awards.
Meanwhile McKenna and former Langwarrin teammate Dylan Fisher featured on Baxter’s facebook page as new signings for next season.
McKenna has also played with Peninsula Strikers while Fisher captained Doveton’s under-21s in NPL3 this year and has also played with Dandenong City and Springvale White Eagles.
