A YOUNG Werribee outfit will take to the field this year in the Victorian Football League.
The Tigers will field plenty of cubs after a raft of senior players took to the wings in the latter stages of the off-season.
Coach Simon Atkins in his fourth year in charge of the yellow and black said the team had taken a shift heading into 2008.
“As far as the dynamics of the team, it has gone from senior and experienced to more young and enthusiastic,” he said. “We have probably lost a couple of senior players who we didn’t really want to, we probably lost about six in total and because their decision was made late in the season we haven’t been able to replace their experience as much as we would have liked to.
“But we have been happy with the younger blokes we have been able to get.
“What we have added is some speed, we needed a bit of leg speed and we have added a couple of players who bring that.”
Atkins mentioned a few young recruits taken from AFL rookie lists, these included Ben Sharp, Peter Hardy and Michael McKinnon.
Twenty-two-year-old Sharp comes to the Tigers from West Coast.
“He will predominantly play a wing, maybe a little back and a little on-ball,” Atkins said. “His body is fairly well developed and we will probably look to use him as a backman, who can push up through the midfield.”
Michael McKinnon was on the Essendon rookie list, the tall ruckman will provide valuable height for the Tigers.
“He is a 205cm developing ruckman; we will be working on his forward play as well. If you look at AFL ruckmen these days, they have to be able to play other positions, so we will be looking to work on his forward play as well.”
Nineteen-year-old Peter Hardy spent a year on Port Power’s rookie list and was previously with the Geelong Falcons, his versatility is something Atkins will be happy to have at his disposal.
“He is a young kid who can play a number of positions; we will look to experiment with him. He can play either end of the ground.”
Atkins pointed out that they had also picked up players from local leagues and country leagues, including the Goulburn Valley Football League Morrison medallist and young gun Michael Barlow. Michael Rockefeller will be looked to improve on his successful first year with the Tigers, and players like Clint Chisholm and Jackson Sheringham who played a handful of games in 2007 have had strong preseasons and setting themselves up for a decent 2008.
“It (pre-season training) has been a bit specific, a bit of strength and speed endurance work and also looking to continue to improve skills,” Atkins said.
“In the last couple of weeks we have had some niggling injuries… we have around six injuries but one or two of them will be back in a couple of weeks.”
In his fourth year as coach, Atkins is still enjoying his time at the helm of the club.
“I really enjoy what the VFL offers, it’s a bunch of 19-22 year olds and with the skill level there is a lot of room for development. I enjoy that part.
“And the Saturday Sunday I enjoy the tactics and trying to outmanoeuvre the opposition coach.
“Last season was disappointing for the Tigers who missed out on finals for the first time in 16 years,” Atkins said. “(This year) we have got to right the things we did wrong and I am not just saying that as a throw away statement.
“Our pre-season has been based on that stuff (that we need to improve on) – with our list going through a little bit of a rebuild.
“My expectations – obviously every coach, it doesn’t matter what league, the aim is to play in a grand final.
“I am not saying that we will, but we will go about it the right way and look to string a couple of wins and take it from there.”
