ON Sunday, our club will play Footscray in the VFL Grand Final.

It’s a great achievement for the alignment between Casey and Melbourne, but there is still a very important game to be won on the weekend.

The impact from our Melbourne-listed players can’t be underestimated.

Their attitude to buy-in and really embrace what our one club mentality is about – and embrace the VFL – has been really critical. So too has the attitude of our VFL-listed players, which has been equally as important to the success of the club this year.

There have been a number of reasons why we’ve got the results we have so far.

For example, our VFL-listed players – who aren’t full-time footballers – have adopted a professional manner and gone the extra mile to help the cause. There has been extra training sessions organised to incorporate both the AFL and VFL players, because we’ve wanted to try and get as many sessions and time together.

These are simply the challenges of having an aligned AFL and VFL team, but we’ve done everything possible to make it work – and that has been shown in our form. On top of that, we’re located about an hour away from each other, so that adds to the challenges.

The success hasn’t been just about the talent. It’s been the buy-in from every single player – whether they’re AFL or VFL-listed.

The friendships that have been developed by the AFL and VFL-listed players have also played a huge part in this success this year. They have spent time together after games and in years gone by that didn’t happen as much. They have embraced their teammates and the club.

When Sam Weideman made his AFL debut this year, he received a host of texts, not only from his Melbourne teammates, but his Casey teammates. They genuinely wanted to celebrate his success and that’s been significant.

We’ve had also had some incredible leadership this year. Not only has Jack Hutchins led the way, but having Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove – both former co-captains of Melbourne – has also been pivotal.

But it’s also been more than that. There has been genuine care across the board.   

The Melbourne Football Club has been able to provide some genuine coaching structures and the work that Brett Allison and Daniel McPherson have provided to me has been instrumental.

They have changed the culture of our alignment and have embraced their time at VFL level and coming to Casey. Brett and Daniel – also known as Fruity and Frosty – need a big acknowledgement for the work they’ve done, even though they’d be embarrassed about me talking about them. They’ve gone above and beyond their roles, and often came out to Casey more often than their job required them to.

To me, that’s just shown an unbelievable investment by them.

They have helped educate players and build relationships. It’s made my job so much easier and it’s allowed us to create the best environment possible.

The Melbourne coaches – Paul Roos and Simon Goodwin, Brendan McCartney, Jade Rawlings and Ben Mathews – those guys have been visual at our games and have helped educate and support the players. They have known the exact balance of when to get involved and when not.

We understand that on game day, there can be a lot of voices, but every one of them has been able to provide us with the support that we’ve needed.

Those coaches have also helped us get to the position that we’re in at the moment. Again, there has been genuine buy-in from the Melbourne coaches. I’d also really like to acknowledge Craig Jennings, who has been excellent with strategy and opposition. The time that I’ve had with him has really helped me. It’s been significant.

The support that we’ve had from general manager of football manager Josh Mahoney has also been fantastic. He’s been a real sounding board on the challenges that come with coaching an aligned team. He’s been all ears and has provided me with a huge amount of support and trust.

It’s been such a whole club achievement this year and not just the players who run out each week.

In terms of the Casey people, Paul Carbis, our development coach and Darren Ogier, who has been a line coach with Fruity and Frosty, have also played key parts in building the right environment. Casey football operations manager George Morgan has also played a critical role and has been huge in changing the culture of the club. Casey general manager Matthew Young and president David Dillon have also been a huge support, along with so many other off-field people.

They’ve helped build a style of football and find people with great character and the right attributes for our club.

And although we haven’t played in the Grand Final yet – and there is still a game to be won – it’s given us an unbelievable opportunity to make a dream into a reality.