MULTIPLE premiership mentor John Houston believes an injection of youth into Woodford’s ranks has his decorated side hungry for a fourth-straight flag.
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The three-time Woodford premiership coach revealed his side had been rejuvenated by the introduction of youngsters Isaac Fowler, Oliver King and Liam Burgess to its senior ranks.
Houston’s men sit fourth and expect to regain opening batsman Luke Wines as they strive to become the first side in almost 25 years to lift four-successive top-grade flags.
“It’s probably something I learnt from my time at Dennington – to consistently be up, you need to reinvigorate your team,” he said.
To consistently be up, you need to reinvigorate your team.
- John Houston
“They need to be the right players, and it can be one or two a season, but they need a sense of belonging and to have a bit of spunk about them.
“The last few years we’ve had that in Chopper (Jarryd Lewis) and Tom Batten. Tom has come back again this year and is keen to do well.”
Houston said the return of Wines and Batten – on top of improving performances from its younger contingent – were the “icing on the cake” for the Eels’ confidence.
“They’re just quality players and they can do anything at all on their day,” he said.
“But we’re not just doing it for ourselves – we want to have our systems helping to teach cricketers for the future.
“We had that with Tommy (Jackson) breaking into the side a couple of years ago.
“We’ve had it with Alex Jennings making his firsts debut for Northcote and it’s just good to know our processes can help these junior players move on to realise their dreams.”
Woodford faces Nirranda, Port Fairy and Russells Creek in its bid for a sixth-straight Warrnambool and District Cricket Association finals series.