New Heidelberg coach Vinny Dattoli discusses his plans for 2023

New Heidelberg coach Vinny Dattoli will keep the pedal to the metal in 2023 as he takes the reins of the reigning NFL Division 1 premier.

Vinny Dattoli takes the Heidelberg coaching job.

New Heidelberg coach Vinny Dattoli will keep the Tigers’ pedal to the metal in 2023.

“Revs” was a catch-cry of Heidelberg’s NFL Division 1 premiership campaign last season, meaning the more speed the better.

Youth will continue to be a focus for the Tigers as they look to defend their title, the club’s first since 2016, a platform Dattoli helped build.

“I’m extremely big on youth and the more revs – which means speed – the better we’re going to go,” Dattoli said.

“We’re not looking for age, we’re a very young list, and we’re not going to deviate too much from our speed.

“Our intention is to win it again but we’re not going to take our finger off the pulse with our development plan.

“The fact the 19s and Seconds made the grand final, while they didn’t win it, means we’ve got a really good competitive environment and everyone is really supportive of each other.

“There’s been an abundance of success outside the (senior) premiership, to have five or six homegrown kids play in the premiership side, I think behind closed doors is a bigger success.”

Dattoli takes over from Danny Nolan, who has moved interstate due to work commitments.

An assistant coach last season, Dattoli has plenty of experience already having coach West Preston-Lakeside to a Division 1 title in 2010.

He said tweaks to the gameplan were already being planned before Nolan’s departure.

“It was unexpected … (but) when Danny made it public he was moving on it was a really easy decision,” Dattoli said.

“The relationships that are in place, I’ve known a lot of the boys for six years, so I’m walking into an environment I’m extremely familiar with.

Josh Minogue has returned to North Albury. Picture: George Salpigtidis

“Even if Danny was still here, we had already been talking about things we have to do differently this year.

“You’ve got to add different layers and dimensions because everyone is going to come (from us), so we are going to add different layers.”

However, Heidelberg will enter 2023 without arguably its most influential player.

Star centre half-forward Josh Minogue has returned to junior club North Albury in the Ovens and Murray.

Minogue finished second in the Rosbrook Medal and league goalkicking award, booting 54 majors for the campaign – including three in the grand final, and was named in the Team of the Year.

Kai Kearns was the Tigers’ next best with 19 majors, while Charlie Wilson and Mackenzie Hogg booted 18 apiece.

Dattoli said one of the club’s biggest recruits could be asked to fill Minogue’s boots in 2023.

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“We’d all love for Josh to be there but we’ve got a few different ideas how we’ll replace him,” he said.

“We’re looking at some different roles for Brayden (Sier), with Josh moving on he might have a different role up forward.

“He’s had a lot of experience during his AFL and school footy days, so we’ll see if he can add another string up forward for us because he was really good there during the finals.”

Heidelberg will return to pre-season training on February 1 ahead of a Round 1 derby against North Heidelberg at Warringal Park.