Simon Atkins is about to begin his 5th season as senior coach of the Werribee Football Club. The performance of the side last year has given everyone involved at Chirnside Park a lot to look forward to in 2009. Simon spoke on the eve of the season to Tigers Media Manager Kevin Hillier.
What have you done differently this year in the pre-season?
Simon: I split the players into two groups and I held the football back on them a fair bit and wanted to work more on speed endurance, which is different to what we have done in the past. One of my philosophies is that they have to have a fair base of endurance. A lot of the senior group have been with me for two to three years so Mouse (fitness coordinator Doug Brown) have been able to get that endurance into them but what we wanted to do was increase their agility and speed.
What sort of side are you trying to build?
We are not really looking for speed as such with speed endurance they look quicker but they are still running as strong at the end of games. The testing that we have done shows they have got quicker
What did you want to achieve from the pre season recruiting?
You look at how our reserves played last year and it has nothing to do with the results as such because at the end of the day we are here for the senior team to be successful. Our reserves team wasn’t successful in one way (results) but we were able to get 8 players from our reserves squad to play senior footy and perform well. The aim of our recruiting was to increase our potential for the pool of players to be bigger that could play senior football. We also want the reserves to be competitive and get some wins on the board and have some success. I am really happy with what we have brought to the club this year.
There is many new faces let's talk about a few, Nathan Thompson?
When Pods left we really went hard at Thommo. I had actually had a few conversations with him towards the end of the year and he said he wanted to look at coaching and that is the really exciting part for me is, he wants to play and his body is good and that he really wants to explore the coaching side of his footy. Him coming to the club is a real win-win for us. He is obviously a quality player but the other side that he brings being straight out of AFL and forward structures etc is. His link with the Kangaroos is also a big positive because he has such respect from their playing group. He did his forward presentation the other day and the group responded very well and know where they are headed and what he wants from them
Marty Pask?
He was third in our best and fairest when he played here last and he brings a lot of versatility to the group. He played as a defender because that’s where the Doggies wanted him to play. He’s probably lost six kilos since then he’s slimmed down because the Bulldogs wanted him to bulk up to play a bigger type defender role I think he’ll become a bit more of a swingman playing both ends of the ground and at 6’3’’ he has a reasonable tank so he might even go through the midfield at times.
Other new names that fans can look forward too?
Well there is Tim Bongetti he comes to us as the TAC Cup Competition leading goal kicker 2 years ago then he spent a season In Tasmania. For us he is a hard leading presenting forward, he just jumps at anything and that will give us (with Thommo) something different in the forward line. He’s training really well and we are excited to have him and help him develop even more. Daniel Boyle is another he was on the rookie list at Port Adelaide and he has played at SANFL level. He has a fair bit of leg speed and we are trying to improve his endurance but he has good skills and we think he will be a good asset.
Brant Dickson
Chris Kangars
Where can you improve to go that one step further than last year?
I think we will have a little more versatility in our forward structure and the alignment with the Kangaroos can only help us as well. We barely had 2 months last year but with a year under our belts the Kangaroos players have a sense of excitement about playing for us. I also think we will have the ability to rotate blokes through the midfield, which is one of my strong philosophies that you must have to succeed.
New people on your coaching team?
Thommo I have mentioned and we have a new reserves coach in Darren Findlay. We interviewed a few people but Darren came to the top of the list for what we were looking for. It’s a great opportunity for a local bloke who has done his time through the Hoppers Crossing Footy Club to progress to this level and Hoppers deserve a pat on the back for that too. We are rapt to have him. Paul Satterley has come on board to focus on our youth and be able to strengthen our list. He is development coach and head of our Academy so all of our first year players will be given some extra attention from ‘Satts". He has been involved in the TAC Cup for the last few years and it is going to be great for our younger blokes to get not only footy education but other facets as well.
What are your expectations for 2009?
I think when you make a preliminary final everyone thinks the natural progression everyone assumes is to make a Grand Final. Once we got going last year my expectation was that we would be a real force in the finals, which people did not expect because we had a young group. My expectations are that we can hold our position in the eight and as I have said numerous times once you are there anything can happen.
was a rookie at Geelong last year he’s 6’3" at Geelong he was played as a tall defender, we think he has other attributes. He needs to work on his skills but he’s really strong and has a huge motor so he will be a really good asset as a running defender. is a kid from Williamstown and we have probably lost a few ruckmen with Leigh Brown and a few others going He gets a chance to play as a mobile ruckman and in our forward structure
Last Modified on 31/03/2009 11:05