By LIAM TWOMEY
AFTER just one win in the last two seasons, Werribee Centrals Cricket Club president Alan Harper knew it was time for a change.
The Centrals brought back former coach Phil Crea to take the reins and halt the club’s fall down the ranks of the Victorian Turf Cricket Association.
While everyone now waits to see if the changes to the club can help to reignite its on-field performance, Harper said he couldn’t be happier with how things had gone over the off-season.
“We have won one game in two years so we brought Phil back to try and get the club back to where we were three or four years ago when we were playing off in grand finals,” he said.
“We have signed up a few really good young players and we have also had 15 to 20 other new players come on board this year.
“At the moment we feel like we are in a position where we have got 30 blokes who are good enough to play in our ones and twos.”
Harper and Crea identified the club’s batting as the area which needed to be fixed to allow the club to regain its winning form of the past.
A number of the club’s new recruits have been brought in to strengthen that area.
He also identified young gun Chris Duffin as a player he expected to take the next step this season.
“Chris has been around for the last few years,” Harper said.
“About four years ago when we played off in the grand final he was dropped for that grand final for a more experienced player.
“A lot of young kids would have got upset with that and left the club but he sort of bit the bullet and said I need to do what I need to do to improve my cricket. He has come along in the last couple of years and this is really his time to make a stand.”
As well as looking for improved performances on the field, Harper was also aiming to shore up the club’s off-field position.
“It is probably a big year for the club in the sense that over the last couple we have struggled financially a little bit.
“Obviously when you are losing, people don’t stay back at the rooms and club functions have dropped off a little bit. One of the things that Phil has really pushed this year is trying to get that culture back of getting everyone back to the club after games.”
