Torquay Tigers set to promote from within club ahead of 2023 season

Torquay coach Dom Gleeson says he prefers the young talent coming through the club’s junior programs over recruiting new players in the Tigers’ flag chase.

Torquay coach Dom Gleeson chats to the players. Torquay is preparing for the BFL Grand Final. Picture: Alan Barber

TORQUAY coach Dom Gleeson has backed young talent to steer the club to its next premiership.

Gleeson said the Tigers would continue to promote from within, rather than recruit heavily in a bid to challenge for a premiership.

Torquay suffered a shock BFL Grand Final loss at the hands of Barwon Heads, despite claiming the minor premiership.

The Seagulls have recruited strongly in the off-season — seemingly bolstering their chances of back-to-back flags — while the Tigers are yet to sign any new players.

Gleeson said the club was having discussions with players about potentially coming to the club, but he was excited about the retention of last year’s squad.

“At the end of the day, we played really poorly in seven quarters of football in the season and four of them were in the grand final,” he said.

“Our pitch to the playing group has been that we’re not going to try to go out and recruit every man and his dog to the club, we were grand finalists last year.

Dom Gleeson will coach from the sidelines next season. Picture: Mark Wilson

“We do need to improve because we didn’t win, but we definitely see our growth coming from our current list, it’s such a young list and we’re looking forward to ensuring they keep improving.

“We have been talking to players, there may be a couple of signings here and there, but nothing at this stage.”

Gleeson will not pull on the boots in 2023, instead choosing to retire from playing and focusing solely on coaching from the sidelines, while Roscoe Holmes has also retired.

He said there was a hole in the midfield that a new recruit could fill if the club found the right player.

“Everyone’s after a goal kicking midfielder, we wouldn’t shy away from that, that’d be really handy,” he said.

“If we can get an inside midfielder with a little bit of experience and leadership in them as well, but we’re really content with the list we’ve got.

“If we get someone knocking on our door and wanting to move down this way and wants to play here then we’ll definitely look at it and potentially bolster our stocks, but if I was a budding young talent in Torquay and I saw them continuously recruiting outside talent it’d be a bit disheartening.

“We’ve got a great growth area down here in Torquay and we want to show there’s definitely pathways for players into senior footy.

“We certainly back in our coaching and our program to develop players well, and we understand that some players have aspirations of playing GFL football or higher levels and we want to help them reach that.”

Originally published as Torquay Tigers set to promote from within club ahead of 2023 season