By LIAM TWOMEY
FOOTSCRAY Edgewater is ready to hit the ground running this Premier Cricket season.
The Bulldogs have been readying themselves for months after appointing former Dandenong premiership winning coach Steve Chapman to replace Barry Neivandt.
The club also welcomed Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association premiership coach Duncan Harrison as an assistant.
With winning seemingly second nature for the combination of Chapman and Harrison, the latter is looking forward to helping Footscray climb up the ladder.
The Bulldogs finished 12th on the table last season with eight wins.
“The pre-season has been really good,” Harrison said.
“The boys are a pretty tight group and they have been working hard, which is good.
“We have certainly talked about the way we want the guys to play cricket and that is ultimately what we are looking for. We are looking to bring some success to the place and for the players to drive that culture and that belief. That is what we are edging towards.”
Dean Russ will again lead the club as captain after a brilliant 2012/13 season.
Russ blasted 675 runs at an average of 39.71 to finish sixth on the highest run scorers list for the competition.
His form hasn’t been forgotten in the off-season either, with the opening batsman selected in the Victorian Futures side for round one.
“Personally I am not an individual goal setter,” Russ said.
“I don’t like putting numbers on things. I just want to go out and play good consistent cricket. I want to try and lead by example as all captains do.
“Providing I can continue to do that and providing we have 11 blokes on the same page every week, we want to be playing winning cricket and finals cricket.”
After some struggles with the ball last season, Footscray has beefed up its attack with former South Australian first class cricketer Jake Haberfield joining the club.
The 27-year-old played 16 first class matches for the Redbacks and took 41 wickets.
“Jake is a very good bowler,” Russ said.
“He bowls fast and he swings the ball. He has played a lot of first class cricket and obviously played a lot of club cricket back in Adelaide. He is going to give us a little bit more experience with our bowling group and obviously at times we missed that last year. He will bring that and hopefully lead by example.”
Footscray will begin its season this Saturday with a home game against Ringwood.
The Bulldogs will play five one-day games to open the season before breaking into the two-day format in round six.
Following on from the busy off-season Russ believes the key to Footscray taking the next step is producing consistent cricket.
“Providing we close that gap from our best to our worst I think that will lead to good cricket,” Russ said.
“There is no doubt we want to play finals as do 17 other clubs.
“If we close that gap we will give ourselves every chance of playing finals this year.”
