You would be forgiven to think that the Helensburgh Thistles' rise to the top flight was something that happened overnight, but for those involved with the club, they know the process to promotion has not been something handed to them on a silver platter.
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And coach Andrew Paine knows only too well that the rewards seen on the field in last year's District League dominance was a result of seasons of collaboration within the club to see the 'Burgh thrive in all grades.
In first grade, Helensburgh's sole loss came in the decider against Unanderra. In the league, they blitzed the competition - winning first past the post by a long way.
A fairly unchanged side will now take part in the Premier League in 2023.
Paine told the Mercury that he was thrilled with how the club as a whole performed last season but that the results seen on the pitch were a result of years of hard work by a lot of people involved with Helensburgh both past and present.
"It all started before I was there," he said.
"The side won the club championship two years before I came there under 'Boardo' [former coach Brad Boardman]. We got a lot of benefit from the fact that he put a lot of these young guys like Brad [Watts] and Cody [Cuthbertson] in the first grade team as 18-year-olds. That's kind of been our pattern and it's what we want to continue to do.
"Our seconds team is a good U-23's side with a lot of good 19, 20 year olds filled with ex-Wolves and local players and we've also got a lot of kids we're trying to bring back to the club and create a pathway through [into first grade]. Even the U-18's won division one last year. We're just trying to push that through and we don't want to go and ruin that by trying to become a cash fix."
We're just trying to push that through and we don't want to go and ruin that by trying to become a cash fix.
- Andrew Paine
The Thistles will feature a number of familiar faces in the IPL next season including Watts, Cuthbertson and skipper Vaughan Patterson.
Speaking on the upcoming season, Paine said that following a break over the holiday period, the team were chomping at the bit to return to some football.
"Pre-season has been good," he added.
"It was a long season for us last season because it went nearly 12 months [due to the rain prolonging the season]. We had to give the boys a bit of a break. We got in about six sessions at the end of last year and we start again this week. We're pretty lucky in the fact that we've had the same group for about two or three years so there's a fair bit of continuity and prior learning that has already been done.
"We want to be more specific about things that we can do better and things that we have to sort of adjust to with the higher level of the IPL."
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Jordan Warren
Illawarra Mercury sports journalist. Feel free to get in touch jordan.warren@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
Illawarra Mercury sports journalist. Feel free to get in touch jordan.warren@austcommunitymedia.com.au.
