HE was an assistant coach last year but Aaron Nesbitt is now the man in charge at Cairns City Cobras AFL club.
Nesbitt's appointment, together with assistant Brett Oakley, was officially announced last night, but the ex-Ballarat footballer said he had been scouting recruits since the end of last year's football season.
He replaces Ian Wilmott in charge of the Cobras. Wilmott took the team from winless cellar dwellars in 2005 to finals aspirants in 2007.
The club spent 14 of last season's 21 weeks in the top four but fell out when it mattered, missing the finals on percentage.
Now Nesbitt's aim is to make a sure a long-awaited return to the finals comes in 2008.
To achieve this, a lot depends on recruits, but just who is heading to Holloways Beach remains a mystery.
So far the club has kept its incoming list under wraps. There is a centre half back coming from Lavington and a centre half forward from Ballarat among its recruits.
What can be confirmed is Nesbitt's brother Trent has made the move north from Daylesford where he helped the Victorian club end a 46-year premiership drought.
Those new faces will need to cover the losses of key personnel including centre half back Mark Marasco, Josh Carracher, David Price and Joey Morrison - the latter two defecting to Souths
According to Nesbitt, work on the training track over summer will go a long way to further improving Cobras' fortunes.
"We've made a concerted effort to work on our fitness. We've been training from around three weeks before Christmas and then we started again on the 16th of January," Nesbitt told The Cairns Post.
"Our skill level dropped away in the second half of games last year."
A fully fit Steve Diehm will undoubtedly help Nesbitt's cause.
The Cobras averaged just 70 points per match last year, pointing to a deficiency in attack.
"Steve Diehm only played six games last year, but when he did play you really noticed the difference, it straightens us up and gives a focal point up forward," Nesbitt said.
Courtesy of the Cairns Post
Last Modified on 11/02/2009 10:06