Coaches Pre-Season Update

After a long pre-season we go into 2019 with a few knowns and a few unknowns. The squad looks considerably different from years past, and even looking at our team photo from last year, I think there was 30 faces in that picture no longer in our squad.

There are still our senior group Notte, Ellard, Riggio, Howard, Gault, Blakely, Noble, Payne, Turner and Clutterbuck, and the younger brigade that started to show some positive footy in 2018 in Hackett, Wilson, Ercreg, Raynor, Italiano, Cipro, O’Sullivan, Reidy, Fullgrabe, Dean and Maguire.

Throw in a reasonably successful reserves group and Colts squad that played off in a grand Final. We will have a young group, but a talented group.

All the hard work from Phil Smart and Mick Moylan has come to a bit of fruition with the more senior additions to our senior squad. We seem to have added some real quality top end talent with Jesse Glass McCasker coming back to the club after a stint at AFL, George Hampson from East Fremantle coming off a best and fairest and Josh Simpson coming back to Perth after playing up in Geraldton and working away for the past couple of years. Also coming BACK to our club are some senior guys in Leigh Kohlmann and Anthony Stephens, both more senior in age but still relatively young in playing experience at this level. These five guys have already had an impact over the summer with our group, and hopefully will in the season proper.

Two younger guys in Aidan Clarke and Dylan Smith are back in 2019, both are extremely talented young men who probably realised that WAFL footy needed another crack from them.

The pre season training program had a real focus on our standards. Lifting our standard of training and application to the program, instilling good behaviours to our younger squad that will stand them in good stead for future seasons as well as this one. I thought this was evident in our pre season hit out against Subiaco. Although going down by 6 goals, we actually won the second half on the scoreboard and looked to be running well at game end.

Looking at the proper season which is almost upon us, our overall mentality will be continual improvement. This looks like it is going to be a tight season in the WAFL, with every game a big one. Eighth is not where we want to finish again, and we have been working extremely hard to be better than that this year. There will be ups and downs with our young squad, but, there will be exciting times throughout 2019.

Our last pre season game is this week away against Claremont, and then Round 1 the following week at home against South Fremantle.

Hope to see you all throughout the year.

Adam