FINALS football was looking unlikely for the St Pat's Group 10 premier league side with every week that went by without action, so when the competition was officially cancelled on Tuesday coach Zac Merrit wasn't taken aback.
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Merritt had already looked towards what the new year would hold for the team, whilst holding on to the smallest bit of hope that finals would still be able to go ahead.
Pat's would have entered finals in the lowest spot, at fifth, but their run of results prior to the COVID-19 lockdown gave indications that some of their best football for 2021 was still to come.
Not being able to build on that promise was disappointing for Merritt but with a youthful side on his hands he already has a degree of optimism for what the new year can bring.
"The longer the lockdown went on I thought more and more that things would end up this way. When they started talking about one-versus-two, three-versus-four and things like that, that's when I thought it was done," he said.
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"It was a little bit disappointing, because we put in so much effort ahead of the semis, and we'd beaten two of the top teams. We'll just build onto that for next year now.
"We have a really young squad too. The break is not too bad, we're still blooding a couple of the guys who came through under 18s and are in maybe their second or third year of first grade, and they know what it's all about now.
"We beat Mudgee and Panthers, we got done by two by the minor premiers and we got done on the bell by Hawks so we knew that we were there or thereabouts so that gives us confidence going into next year."
Pat's got off to a slow start in 2021 and injuries to several key players added to their woes.
They began to string some better performances together in the back half of the season and managed to end a hoodoo that had been hovering over their heads for some time - a derby victory against Panthers.
We have a young squad ... and they know what [first grade] is all about now.
- Zac Merritt
Merritt said the combination of injuries and the stop-start nature of the season didn't bring out the full potential of the Saints.
"It was a funny sort of year. As soon as we'd get some wins under our belts and get a bit of confidence we'd have a couple of weeks off," he said.
"Being a young team playing first grade in Group 10, which is a quality competition, it can be hard to build up momentum when you're stopping and starting.
"We grew a bit this year and hopefully next year we'll be back to getting footy on a regular basis.
"I think most of the boys will hang around. I'll let them have a bit of a break before getting back around them."
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