HAMPDEN powerhouse South Warrnambool is adamant a focus on building a welcoming culture on and off field will hold its finals ambitions in strong stead.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
A flock of top-grade recruits – including former players Liam Youl, Matthew McVilly, Sam Thompson, James Hussey and Tait Niddrie – have re-committed to the club for next season.
Former St Kilda utility Josh Saunders has also signed on and is expected to spearhead the Roosters’ bid for finals action in 2017.
South Warrnambool coach Mat Buck said the club had strived to create a enjoyable atmosphere at the club and believed it was responsible for luring former stars back to the club.
He said he expected the Roosters to “run fairly deep” in the midfield but would not pigeon hole recruits into one position.
“You’d like to be able to do targeted recruiting but there isn’t really enough players around for that. You want to build a place people want to play their footy,” Buck said.
“The new guys will challenge everybody else to step up to keep their place in the side and while I think we’ll run fairly deep in the midfield, I think Koroit and Warrnambool have been doing that for a long time.
“All of the guys back are more than willing to explore different options for where they will play and in our side last year, we really wanted each of the players to play a variety of positions.”
Although the Roosters were locked in eighth at the end of last season, with seven wins and 11 losses, they finished just two wins from Camperdown in fifth place.
Buck said the addition of Josh Saunders – fresh out of the AFL system – was proving positive for the club in the first block of pre-season training.
“He’s been terrific around the group and is really leading from the front,” he told The Standard.
“His intensity at training has been fantastic.
“He’s a really good person off the field too and he’s really responded to being at the club.
“He’s only 22 years old as well so he’s the perfect age for the group.”
He said the club was also relishing the chance to work with former Victorian Football League players in Youl and Hussey.
“With those two in particular, the club was very supportive of them when they wanted to test themselves at a higher level, which they did very successfully,” Buck said.
“They’ve jumped at the chance to come home and they were just really excited to come back. They really led the way with it.”
