St Pats' unbeaten season: College holds the key to NTFA success

Both seniors and reserves sides finished the home and away roster unbeaten, with the seniors’ round 16 draw with East Coast the only blemish on an otherwise perfect season. 

McCallum praised senior coach Alex Russell and star South Launceston recruit Jake Laskey for driving a higher standard of training and game preparation and reserves coach Steve Bennett for his “outstanding” knack for recruiting. 

“(This season is) more than what I would have expected at the start of the year given our age - we have an average age of 23,” McCallum said.

“One of Alex’s aims when he first came in was to try and utilise the school - our senior side has between 14 and 17 former students playing each week.

“Two recruits came straight from the school last year - the captain of the team was Stevie Hudson and the vice-captain was Julian James.”

Despite the Saints’ impeccable season to date, McCallum is acutely aware that the real work is only just about to begin. 

“We’re very conscious of the fact that we went through the home and away season undefeated under Jake Lowe in 2015 and we were beaten by Scotch in the last kick of the day in the semi and they beat us by four goals in the grand final.

“So we’re very conscious of the fact that going through undefeated doesn’t necessarily win you a flag.”