Hear from Dale Robinson ahead of the 2022 season

02/02/2022

Head Southern Saints Coach Dale Robinson speaks on how pre season has gone, the culture that has been forming at the Saints, those players you need to keep an eye on this year and what drives her to coach.

The Southern Saints will be looking to build upon last year’s finals appearance under Head Coach Dale Robinson, who will be coaching the Saints once again in season 2022.

Their pre-season has been “an interesting one” according to Robinson.

Early in the new year over half of the Saints squad were close contacts or had Covid themselves, causing preseason to be disrupted. But it has all come together in time for the 2022 season, the whole squad has been back together for a couple of weeks and Dale has seen some “good footy and enjoyment of the game” from the girls and has been “excited” by what she has seen.

After knocking off the highly fancied Port Melbourne in week 1 of finals last season and then narrowly losing to eventual grand finalists Geelong in the semi finals, Robinson’s Southern Saints are “looking to go at least one better or two better” in 2022.

About 50% of last year’s squad has been turned over, with some experience being added as well as some young girls that are coming through, which Dale says is “a really nice mix” and has provided the team with a “strong bottom end (of the squad)”.

Dale is looking forward to seeing two of her leaders in Deanna Joliffe and Hannah Stuart go on and continue their solid 2021 seasons, and they are set to do so after “setting the standard on the track”.

Additionally, Grace Buchan and Tessa Boyd both come to the Saints as experienced sportspeople, Grace with her past VFLW experience, who Robinson describes as having a “nice level head” and Tessa having originally been drafted to the Western Bulldogs AFLW team in 2018 who is "elite in the way she goes about it" and who Dale is “excited to see”.

Another player who is “one to keep an eye on” is Nicki Cormack, Nicki is expected to play an outside midfield role and “when she gets her hands on the ball, it’s quite exciting”, says Dale.

Speaking on the culture that has developed at the Southern Saints, Dale Robinson says that they have been able to build well on the cultural foundations from last year, with a key focus on communication, as well as respect and trust. She says that the culture at the club “just keeps getting stronger and stronger” and that the high level of communication ensures that “the girls always know what is happening and always have a voice”.

In her tenure as a development coach at St Kilda at AFLW level, Dale has been able to transition some of her learnings there back to VFLW level which has been a large help, and has created synergy between St Kilda and the Southern Saints.

Dale has a decorated playing career behind her and says she “absolutely loves playing the game” but says she gets more out of the game now from a coaching perspective.

She loves “being able to help the next generation achieve their dreams and being able to work really closely with them to provide an environment that is a safe environment for them to be themselves, to make mistakes and to learn”.

One of Dale’s favourite quotes at the moment (courtesy of Anna Meares) is “a good coach can win games, but a great coach will change lives” and these are words she tries to live by and incorporate into her coaching.

Dale acknowledges that this season will most likely once again be a “fairly unique one (referring to the Covid situation)” but says she is "looking forward to providing the opportunity for the girls to get out there and play the game they love and do that as much as possible and we’ll do that on a week by week basis and have some fun while we’re doing it.”

Written by Mason Bursill - Sandringham Football Club Media