North Adelaide’s patience in coach Josh Carr pays off as Roosters head to SANFL preliminary final
PRELIMINARY finalist North Adelaide says it is reaping the rewards for showing faith in coach Josh Carr, despite a wooden spoon and second-bottom finish in the mentor’s first two years at the helm.
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NORTH Adelaide is reaping the rewards for showing faith in coach Josh Carr, despite a wooden spoon and second-bottom finish in the mentor’s first two years at the helm.
That was the view of Roosters football manager Darryl Wintle, after the club secured a meeting with Woodville-West Torrens in Sunday’s preliminary final.
North comprehensively downed reigning premier Sturt by 58 points on the weekend — 12 months on from propping up the competition with a 4-14 minor round record.
Wintle said the Roosters’ rapid turnaround endorsed the decision to maintain patience with Carr after a stuttering start to his tenure.
“The coach is usually the first one to take the first hit,” Wintle said.
“But it was unanimous from the club’s perspective to back Josh in.
“We could see that he was making some gains in the right areas.
“He has a composed demeanour about the way he coaches and his education to the playing group has been fantastic.
He also said the off-season recruiting of Aidan Tropiano (Perth), Jarred Allmond (Eagles) and Robbie Young (Port) had been central to the Roosters unlikely success.
“Our real focus was on midfield and Josh was keen on an inside player, an outside player and some speed,” Wintle said.
“They’ve all had a massive impact on the playing group.
“To get everyone to buy into what they’re trying to develop within the playing group is the art of a coach.
“He’s been able to do that consistently this year and we’ve got the rewards in the win column.”
Carr’s progress was recognised in June when he penned a two-year contract extension at Prospect.
Wintle praised the former Port Adelaide midfielder’s willingness to blood youngsters such as Connor Rozee, Boyd Woodcock (both 18) and Mackenzie Slee (19) at league level.
“The expectation of what we were going to get out of all of them, they’ve probably exceeded it in regard to their on-field output.”
The Eagles clash will be North’s first preliminary final since 2013 as it aims to snap a 27-year premiership drought.
Wintle said consistently challenging at the business end of the season was the club’s long-term target.
“The reality is you’ve got the good strong clubs, and we’re probably playing the best one at it this week in the Eagles, that just continually play finals football,” the ex-North captain said.
“That’s where we’re aiming to get to.
“They (finals matches) don’t come around very often and we’ve got good momentum.
“We’ve just got to enjoy it, grasp the finals atmosphere and back in that what we can do is good enough if we roll up to play on the day.”