Sport
17 September, 2024
THE COACHES' SAY: Natte Bealiba's Trent Mortlock
In the Mortlock book of immortality at Natte Bealiba, playing-coach Trent, along with his brother, Jye, as captain, have just written their own chapter in a tale full of Swan folklore.
With Trent getting to enjoy the spoils of coaching the club’s seventh premiership, and their first since 2019, it could yet mark the makings of a Swan dynasty.
At the heart of it all was Trent getting to soak up winning the flag for his boyhood club.
“It’s a dream come true to coach your home-grown club to a senior premiership, especially with a lot of locals. It’s been a gruelling year but it’s all worthwhile now, and the 22 boys and the extended squad have done a fantastic job all year and I love them all to bits,” he said.
“I’m lost for words to be honest. It’s something really special, and something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Although the Swans opened up a five-goal lead at the first change, it also came with the use of a heavy breeze.
Trent knew the job wasn’t done.
“The first quarter, I felt we blazed a little bit too much with the wind, and we expected it to do it for us,” he said.
“We could see it was hard work going into the game, but I thought we hit our 45s and spread the ground really well.
“We made the game as wide as possible to make Trentham have to cover grass, and I think Bailey Jacobs, Jordan Fraser and Stephen Ross got some outside run on the wing, and we were able to have a little bit of handball link-up through the corridor which opened up the second quarter for us.
“They had a really good start, but I felt like it was a real arm-wrestle and we had a lot of the footy on our terms, so to go into half time having scored three goals apiece in the second was pretty good.”
With that second quarter laying the groundwork for a big second half, the Swans were able to make the third quarter their own, and Trent said it was worth the price of admission to celebrate big grand final goals from the likes of Jai Howell and Chris Dellavedova.
“We played some good slingshot footy in the third quarter — they had the momentum with a few clearances, but we were able to rebound with run and carry, break the inside 50s, with Jai Howell and Chris Dellavedova kicking goals from range,” he said.
“We broke the shackles that quarter. They call it the premiership quarter for a reason and we played our best footy.”
Trent saved special praise for his midfield, as well as a few of his veterans that got the job done.
“We have some older boys, like Ross who is 39, going on 40, who had a great year again, Dellavedova missed one game for the year, but he came on, played his role, kicked a goal, but also the youth of Howell, Jordi Cossar, Bailey Cossar, there is still a young nucleus there which could be special if we band together and stick around,” he said.
“I thought all our mids were fantastic, Bailey and Josh Grant did a fantastic job trying to negate Joel Cowan, and our back six did a great job locking down their forwards as well.
“I loved our chances against anyone. I felt if we played our brand of footy, no matter who we played, I thought we had a good shot, and it showed.”
Trent is desperate to show the league that this isn’t just a flash in the pan for the Swans — he wants the opportunity to defend the title that just wasn’t forthcoming in 2020 when the world was turned upside down by COVID-19.
“It would be nice to back up a premiership and have that title. We were stripped of defending the 2019 one a little bit for a couple of years. But it’s been a special year, and it’s been great fun,” he said.