David Ruddock should be Broken Hill's next Mayor following and amazing display of vision, planning, belief and passion to guide the Dogs to the 2016 Senior Premiership on Saturday.
Ruddock had to overcome more setbacks during season 2016 than probably any Coach in the last 20 years but never waived in his belief in the Players or the Club to rally around him, follow his leadership and all play their role on the One Day in September.
Ruddock is renowed for his "serious interviews" with his Players and it was obvious on GF day that all his Players knew what was expected when you pull on a Blue and White Guernsey, especially when Premierships are to be won.
Ruddock had to keep a brave face on when several players were unavailable during the year including the "The Recruit" Jayden Kelly and hopefully our next AFL listed player Isaac Cumming. Add the 7 week holiday for suspended midfielder Quinton Beavan (that at one stage looked likely to be longer) the non availability of Jedd Watson due to working in Cobar and the mine roster impacting on Nathan Rayner, Matt Garrick and others meant all year Ruds had a "rookie" team on the park. The one exception was Round 7 when the Dogs had something like their A team available and the result - the Dogs by 31!
Come July and things are going OK at the Alma against the Roos until Codie Howard suffers a severe leg injury and Kelly does a shoulder. The Dogs would battle on for several weeks without both losing to Centrals and West and everyone was jumping off the Ruds for Mayor band wagon, except Ruds.
Round 18 and Howard is back and its a credit to him that with such an interupted season he could be such a pivitol player on Grand Final day. South's run from the backlines was non existent as players like Howard and Ruddock's other 'ace in the pack" Brett Johnson made the South backlines accountable. BJ was happily retired until a "serious interview" took place and BJ answered the SOS. BJ was never going to get 30 touches but his one percenters were vital including two telling spoils against Jordan Holmes in the last quarter. Champions rise to the occassion and BJ is a 300 game champion.
Ruddock in the final 2 weeks was dealt more dud hands with first Luke Jones injuring a wrist and then in the final week the super important " he can play anywhere" Trent Barraclough goes down with a hammy!
Over the last month the Dogs have wandered out of the Jube gates for a Clubrooms chat before the game and again on GF day Rud's planning and preparation was faultless as his boys were ready to go from the first bounce.
Players played their role to perfection none more so than gun midfielders Jayden Kelly and Isaac Cumming who both sacrficed 30 plus possessions to get lesser but more important touches around the attacking 50 metre mark. Both hit the scorboard and also had goal assists.
The player of the game for the Dogs was Matt Garrick who played the "plus one" to perfection not only gaining several kicks and marks but also on several occasions taking one for the team being the roadblock to the leads of gun South forward Dylan Browne.
You don't win finals unless all players buy into the message and for Ruddock he had 22 contributors on the day plus two dedicated passionate Assistant Coaches in Chris Jones and Brad Pressler (pictured with Ruds).
Ruddock was able to meld a team of kids (Cumming, Ethan Slater, Josh Jones, Tom Ragenovich, Nash Mitchell, Dylan Harris and Brock Chapman) with some seriously good stars in Kelly, Howard, Anthony Henderson and 2016 Medallist Eddie Morgan, plus a good dash of experience in 300 gamers BJ and Jamie McConnell, add some team grunt from defenders Jake Borlace, Keenan Ellis and Shane Dalby & others to get the job done.
Grand Finals are never like the Minor Rounds and the Dogs came ready to play and for the Roos they were competitive but not clean in their skill execution. Many may blame the South players but in reality they were just confronted by a team that tackled hard, controlled field position by understanding the game plan and executing it.
That all comes down to leadership and that's why Broken Hill needs Dave as our next Mayor. We need a Mayor for Broken Hill not the Darling River, we need a Mayor to know what he can control and to work with others to solve State and Federal issues. We don't need a recyled Coach or recycled Players we need a Mayor who has been at the coalface, understands modern game plans, and is a great communicator and pasasionate about his Broken Hill team. Vote 1 Dave!
Last Modified on 05/09/2016 10:57