“Yeah, why not?”: The last-minute call that got improved Dolphin Lochie Reidy to Frankston

By Will Jeffares

It has been an exciting year for the Frankston Football Club in 2024 as the Club chases a finals berth for the first time since 2008. This season has seen many great stories arise on the field; with new faces impressing and existing ones taking their games to a new level and becoming important cogs in the side. One of which is talented youngster Lochie Reidy.

In his second season with Frankston, Reidy has grasped the chance to play more inside midfield minutes, featuring in all 15 games so far this year, and becoming a consistent contributor in the 22, with the 20-year-old averaging just over 16 disposals and 3.6 tackles per game in 2024.

But it wasn’t always just football for Reidy, with cricket very much in the picture as a junior before making the move to ditch the round ball and pursue a career with the oval one.

“Growing up it was very much footy in the winter, cricket in the summer. I’d played just locally at Vermont for both. In my early years, I was a bit more of a cricketer, so I went through all that talent pathway stuff there,” Reidy said.

“Footy was kind of on the side at that stage, but I always enjoyed it more.

“As I got older, I realised if I wanted to be any good, I probably should focus on footy a little bit more. So, I decided to get rid of cricket, (and) just focus on footy.

“Up until (Under) 15s, I was just at Vermont just playing locally. (I) wasn’t picked in any interleague or things like that. Just pretty much got told, ‘bit too small, not going to be good enough’, so that fuelled me to work that little bit harder.”

Reidy’s hard work would pay off, earning him an opportunity with Eastern Ranges at Under 16s level as part of the Coates Talent League, known then as the NAB League. With COVID-19 rampant at the time, his time there, like many young footballers at the time, was filled with ups and downs with snap lockdowns hindering many leagues.

“(I) got my chance at Eastern Ranges in Under 16s and I just really took my opportunity. They progressed me pretty quickly into the (Under) 18s program, where I was able to make a name for myself,” he said.

“It was obviously very different and difficult circumstances, but I think various stages helped me a little bit.

“It was my (Under) 16s year that we first went into lockdown, so played a handful of games early in the season then missed out for the rest of the year.

“I’d been lucky enough to play well in those early games, so they kept me in the loop with all the (Under) 18s, so they sent me all the training programs and things like that. I just used that lockdown time to really knuckle down and get fit, build my body up a little bit.”

Reidy was selected as part of the Vic Metro Under 17s team early in 2021 as he came back as a 17-year-old with “a lot more confidence”, before yet another lockdown took place.

“I think coming back as a 17-year-old, I had a lot more confidence as well. I was able to take it to the bigger bodies, some of the 19-year-olds that stayed back a little bit,” Reidy said.

“It helped me in the first half of the year, I got to play (Under) 17s at (Vic) Metro. Ultimately, we got cut short again because of one of the snap lockdowns, which was gut-wrenching, but that was an unreal experience.

“I missed out (on getting drafted to the AFL) in my (Under) 18s year, but that just fuelled me again to work even harder coming out of that two or three-year block, where we were in and out of lockdowns, to really knuckle down and cement my spot in some senior footy.”

In 2022, Reidy would taste success at school level, captaining Whitefriars College to the Divison 1 Herald Sun Shield over a strong St Patrick’s College side, ending an 18-year drought for Whitefriars. He was named best afield in the victory while also being named captain of the Team of the Tournament, but for Reidy, the individual accolades came second behind the overall success of the team.

“I think from a team perspective, that was the most enjoyable football experience I’ve ever had,” he said.

“Going through our various year levels, I’ve always aspired to play in the seniors. We hadn’t always had the best team, and it came to our senior year and we were there or thereabouts.

“We nudged our way through the year just sitting middle table and then got lucky with a few finals. We happened to be ahead in the Grand Final when there was an injury, so they called off the game which was lucky.

“Then we got to go through to the Herald Sun (Shield), play against some big schools like St Pat’s, and I knew we had the ability to win that, which was an unreal experience, massive crowd.

“To be chosen as best-on was something I was very proud of but also something I wasn’t overly consumed by, it was more just about the team’s success.”

Coming out of the school system and Under 18s level, senior footy was on the horizon for Reidy in 2023, eager to continue forging his career in the sport.

However, it wasn’t always Frankston for Reidy, with a move to play with Box Hill all but certain before one call from former Dolphins senior coach Danny Ryan turned his head, and he never looked back.

“In my 18s year, I trained a lot with Box Hill through Eastern Ranges’ partnership there and that’s where I thought I was going to go,” Reidy said.

“Up until the day before the first day of pre-season, I was locked in. I was going to Box Hill. I was going to play there.

“Then my manager at the time knew Danny Ryan pretty well and Danny gave me a call and just said, ‘Look where a standalone, there’s going to be more opportunity for you to play as many games as you can and establish yourself.

“I thought, ‘Yeah, why not? We’ll come down for a few sessions’. I never really looked back after the first week, I loved it.

“I met some great people here and soon realised that this was the place I wanted to be at.”

After a positive start to life as a Dolphin with a strong pre-season ahead of the 2023 campaign, an unfortunate back injury on the eve of the season would see Reidy initially ruled out for a couple of months, but the recovery period proved to be longer as he had to wait until Round 13 to finally make his first appearance for his new side.

“Things were looking good throughout pre-season and then about a week before the season, I fractured one of the bones in my back, which set me back,” he said.

“We thought it was maybe a six-to-eight-week injury, (it) ended up being about 12-14 weeks, so obviously that was heartbreaking because I wanted to be out there.

“I’d never really had an injury before, so I hadn’t missed any footy. Sitting on the sidelines watching the boys each week just waiting for my opportunity was tough.

“As soon as I got back, I played a couple of games at local (level) and then got the call-up to play Geelong down at GMHBA. It was a surreal experience but it’s definitely what I needed to help me grow my game into this year as well.”

Now an important part of the Frankston set-up in 2024, Reidy has taken the chance to move from the outside and play more minutes on-ball under new head coach Jackson Kornberg. With a few off-season departures opening the door in the engine room, an “honest chat” with Kornberg during pre-season lit a spark within Reidy to cement his role in the side.

“Last year, I played on the wing predominantly. I always had the aspirations to move around and play inside. I feel like that’s where I can play my best footy and be the most damaging,” he said.

“I was aware that I was probably a bit small at this stage last year, so I made a real effort to get in the gym, build up my body as much as I can and continue to do that throughout the season.

“It was about halfway through the pre-season this year where I actually sat down with ‘Jacko’ (Kornberg) and we just had an honest chat. I just asked him to tell me what I thought I was doing well, and, really, where I stand.

“It was at that stage he told me, ‘Look if you were to play on the wing, you’re probably just outside our team. We’ve got a spot in the midfield inside. If you work hard, it might be yours.’

That’s where I really had that fire build inside of me that I wanted to make that spot mine and I think I forced my way into selection in that last month block of pre-season, with a few of the practice games as well.”

Reidy has been working alongside and learning from in-form midfield trio Trent Mynott, Tom Murphy and Seb Quirk in the middle, as well as midfield coach Tim McGibney and Kornberg as he continues to grow in the role.

“I’ve just tried to learn off as many of the others as I can. ‘Quirky’, Trent, and ‘Murph’ have been huge for me, learning off them every week. Constantly watching vision with ‘Timmy’ and ‘Jacko’ as well has been huge,” Reidy said.

Kornberg’s appointment as Senior Coach in a full-time capacity at Frankston has been an “underrated” addition according to Reidy, with Kornberg’s availability, attitude and view on the game a breath of fresh air for the side.

“He’s been exceptional,” Reidy said.

“He’s here all the time, he’s watching vision, he’s helping blokes out, he’s checking on you if you’ve had a bad game or if your body is a bit sore.

“He’s been unreal for me. I’ve had a bit of issues in the last couple of years just with my week-to-week flow of remaining positive if I’ve had a bad game and things like that and he’s been unreal. I come down here every Monday, we sit, we debrief the game, we talk a bit of rubbish for an hour and then we look forward to the next game.

“He’s brought so much positivity to this group. The way he sees the game, it’s unique. It’s probably something Frankston hasn’t had for a long, long time.”

At the end of the home-and-away season, the top six sides in the VFL progress to the finals while the 7^th-10^th placed sides will enter the Wildcard Round to determine the final two spots to make the eight.

The Club is coming off three consecutive wins to currently be sitting 10^th on the ladder after 15 games played and with a record of 8-7, the most wins for a Frankston side since they last played finals in 2008.

In what has been a largely positive year for the Dolphins, with some great results to show for it, Reidy said the atmosphere at the club has been “amazing”, as he believes the side can put themselves in a strong position with just three matches remaining.

“Definitely that first five or six weeks of the season, I think we shocked a few teams, but I don’t think that was really a shock to us,” he said.

“We knew we had the players, the game plan, and the mindset that we could take it up to as many teams in the comp as possible.

“It was the best start we probably could’ve asked for, sitting 5-2.

“That was such an amazing atmosphere, boys were coming to training two hours early just because it was the best part of their week.

“We had that tough stretch in the middle where we lost a few, but I think we were also optimistic as well because we knew we’d gone through a tough stretch of playing really quality teams and we knew our best footy was almost there.

“The last couple of games, we’re starting to see a little bit more of that footy we had in the first half (of the season).

“We’ve been big on not looking too far ahead and just playing it week by week, but I think we’re wary that we can really set ourselves up in a good position.

“It feels like it’s our point to lose. If we play the footy we know (that) we can, we should be playing finals footy and I can’t wait for the next three or four weeks.”