Essendon Mazda Coach’s Comment: Van’t Schip trusting thorough pre-season preparation

Senior Men’s Assistant Coach Davey Van’t Schip admitted that football was a very distant secondary priority for the Royals squad this week, but said the team would be as well prepared as possible for its Australia Cup clash against Caroline Springs George Cross.

With Senior Men’s Coach Vitale Ferrante on indefinite leave, Van’t Schip and Senior Men’s Captain Mick Ferrante will step in to handle first-team duties.

“In moments like this, I think everyone realises how insignificant football is,” Van’t Schip said.

“Across the whole squad, everyone’s thoughts and prayers are with Oscar and his family, with V, with Jo and Jada.

“There is obviously a big Ferrante presence at the club. V’s our coach, Mick’s our captain, their brother Paul is one of our major sponsors and all their kids are at the club, so as a club community, everyone is just thinking about them now.”

Van’t Schip said himself and Mick would be sharing coaching duties, with the former handling training whilst the latter will oversee the matchday element of the role.

With a tough draw in the Australia Cup pitting the Royals against State League 1 North-West rival George Cross – who were on top of the table when the 2021 season was cancelled – Van’t Schip said the squad would be well prepared for the game thanks in large part to the volume and quality of games played during pre-season.

“We’ll prepare ourselves as best as possible,” he said.

“Compared to last season where we only played three games before the season, this pre-season has felt like a solid pre-season.

“We got to really build on some patterns of play we want to implement and they’re coming out nicely and we’ve had some great results against Moreland Zebras, Moreland City and Boroondara.

“Apart from the results, we’re really happy with the fitness and the play we’ve produced, so hopefully this pre-season sets us up for a successful campaign to fight for promotion.”

Particularly pleasing has been the increasing prominence of the young players promoted from within and signed from other clubs.

“We’ve had some good youngsters come in, Ravi [Paligaru], Paul [Montalto], Ziyad [El-Tahir] and Jake [Montagnese] have all done well, but they know they’re coming into a senior environment and the expectations are different.

“It’s a great challenge for them and hopefully they can take their opportunities to play well and play the football we want to display across the year.”