LESS is more for Dan Waters.
This season, the Upwey Tecoma spearhead has less scoring responsibility on his shoulders and fewer opponents hanging off him and is loving it.
Waters won the league goal kicking with 71 goals in a side that won just six games last year. In 2016, the load has been shared and the 24-year-old, who has booted 16 goals in the Tigers’ 3-1 start to the season, is enjoying the change.
“There was probably a lot of expectation on me to be kicking a lot of our goals because we didn’t have as strong a forward line as we do this year,’’ he said.
“Our forward line has improved so much, we’ve got other blokes helping me out a little bit whereas I was probably the main target all the time. I do enjoy having the ball kicked to me but there’s been a little bit of pressure taken off this year with a couple of the recruits coming in, Andrew Clifford and Jamie Hackett, we’ve also got Simon Mitchell starting to kick some goals, he kicked eight last year and he’s already kicked 12 this season.
“It makes my life a bit easier, it drags a couple of defenders away which helps me a lot where as last year I was competing against two or three most contests. Now because we’ve got a good spread of goal kickers it really helps free up that forward line.”
Waters, a concreter by trade, has been rock solid in front of goal for the Tigers since making his senior debut in 2010.
He’s kicked 265 goals and the second most in the competition, 193, since the start of 2013 behind Wandin’s Michael Fowkes, 241.
Attitude is key to consistency.
“And just enjoying my footy, living it a bit more carefree and not being too hard on myself when things don’t go my way,’’ he said.
“Really enjoying being out there every week helps me so I’m not under too much of my own pressure. I’ve always played my footy a bit carefree which helps with the enjoyment factor. I wasn’t much of a footballer coming through juniors so maybe I didn’t have that expectation coming up.”
Tall, strongly built but athletic, Waters is a tough match-up with his speed, agility and ability at ground level. As former coach Greg Spence noted: “Put a big, strong guy on him and he’ll outrun them, put someone quick on him and he’ll beat them for strength.”
“In my younger years I relied on my pace to outrun the defenders and probably in my last two I’ve started working on my body work and strength,’’ Waters said.
“That was probably lacking early days, so that’s been my main focus to really try and get that right when I play on the blokes who match me with speed so I’ve got another string to bow.
“I had some good battles with Mitch Bonuda when he was at Woori, I still wish I could have another crack at him.
“We always got along well but it was always a tough battle on the field, he was always really tough to play on. Woori was a great team defensively so they’d stop the ball coming in as free flowing. He had good pace to keep up with me but his fitness was at a level mine wasn’t at and he ran me around a bit, he was always the one I struggled to kick goals against.”
Waters played in a flag in his second season in 2011, and in a losing grand final in 2013, and believes the Tigers, under second-year coach Paul Howroyd, are laying the foundations for a successful new era.
“We just seem to be gelling really well as a group at the moment, it’s an exciting young group and that’s why I’m still excited to be here,’’ he said.
“This is probably the closest group I’ve been a part of at the club, it’s a much younger age group than usual, the majority are 18 to 22, but we all get along so well and things seem to be working. We want to run for each other and work hard for each other.
“It’d be fantastic for the club (to have some success) after the down year last year, it was the first time we’d missed finals in 30 years or something. The way the group’s going if we can have a great season this year and stick together it’ll go a long way to getting a couple of grand finals in the coming years.”
Most goals kicked since start of 2013
Michael Fowkes, Wandin 241
Dan Waters, Upwey Tecoma 193
Mitch Collins, Belgrave 158
Scott Muir, Warburton Millgrove 156
Ben Monkhorst, Woori Yallock 117
