By ADEM SARICAOGLU
KYLE Hardingham didn’t miss a Pascoe Vale game in 2016.
That was the plan all along, of course, when he was appointed Senior Coach alongside Adam Contessa near on 12 months ago.
By mid-January, however, all that was put on hold.
As one of the 34 Essendon players caught up in the 2012 supplements saga, Hardingham, coming off an impressive 2015 season with the Bombers at VFL level, was forced to the sideline.
“It was probably one of my most consistent years of footy,” Hardingham recalled of his 2015 season.
“I enjoyed myself again.
“Playing AFL, you kind of lose the reason as to why you’re playing footy. But in the VFL, not having to worry about being dropped each week, it just let the shackles off and allowed me to play with more freedom and that’s what I felt like I could do this year.”
Having committed to the Panthers full-time for 2016, the then 27-year-old was primed to take Strathmore Community Bank Premier Division by storm.
“I felt fitter coming into the start of pre-season before Christmas,” Hardingham said.
“I was excited about the new opportunity of coaching and playing. It’s sad when you really feel up and about and fit, but you get it taken away from you.”
For all of the 19 games Pascoe Vale played in 2016, Hardingham was somewhere, behind the fence, taking it all in.
He watched his Panthers enjoy an 11-7 campaign before going down to Greenvale in the Semi-Final at the familiar confines of Windy Hill.
He got two good looks at each opposition club, and an extra look at the Jets.
Between games, he was in the gym, training privately with the help of Strathmore premiership player, Adam Iacobucci.
“I couldn’t have an involvement in any football capacity at the footy club last year, so that was probably the hardest part,” Hardingham explained.
“I’d come down on Thursday nights for a couple of beers with the boys … but that was probably the hardest part, not being involved tactically.
“But watching this year gave me insight on other teams and how they play.
“I suppose it just gave me that bit of an edge for this year – so I feel more ready to step into that coaching role now.”
On September 14, only four days after Keilor’s 29-point Grand Final win over Aberfeldie, Hardingham took to his Instagram account and declared – “Shackles are off!!!”.
The now 28-year-old was free to resume his football journey.
Last month he again took to social media on the first day of Pascoe Vale’s pre-season, telling his 8000-plus Twitter followers he felt like “a kid on first day of school”.
“It’s funny. You get taken out of an environment that is all you’ve known since you were a kid for 12 months,” he said.
“You’re fit and healthy but can’t do the thing you love, and then finally that time comes and you can start to train.
“You’re jumping out of your skin.
“You can’t wait to get back out there. It feels like the first day of school again.”
There’s a sense of joy that now comes with being able to talk footy with Adam Contessa.
There’s a level of joy that now comes with running laps with his teammates.
Finally, he can work on figuring out how to deal with the departure of Ben Warren and the problem his team seems to have playing on its own home ground.
Finally, he can try to recapture that 2015 form and apply his talent to Strathmore Community Bank Premier Division as both player and coach.
Finally, he can simply just get back to football.
