Reservoir coach Rohan Davies confident Mustangs will be more competitive in 2024

31 for 31: Reservoir coach Rohan Davies is adamant the Mustangs won’t be the easybeat they have been in the past with several new recruits arriving.

Tom Holloway in action for Reservoir. Picture: Nathan McNeill

This won’t be the Reservoir you’ve known for the past six years.

New Mustangs coach Rohan Davies is adamant the NFNL Division 3 club won’t be the easybeat it once was.

With a bevy of new recruits and a first practice match win over North Sunshine, the club has made a solid start.

Davies took the reins at Crispe Park in January and has secured the likes of ex-AFL listed talent Ayce Taylor, Mulwala premiership player Zechariah Cuppins, James El Moussalli, Dean Johnson and Daniel Trajanovski.

Reservoir has won just six games since returning from recess in 2016, the last five all coming against fellow struggler Lalor.

Reservoir is aiming for more wins in 2024. Picture: Nathan McNeill

Win or loss, Davies expects his team to be more competitive weekly.

“Without a doubt, from my first time at training in January to now, the improvement has been huge,” Davies said.

“We’ve recruited really well and training standards have lifted, the guys are itching to get into it – so am I – to test ourselves in Divvy 3.

“I’m not really concerned about how we’ve gone in previous years, we’ll be a very different looking side.

“I don’t take it as a given we’ll beat Lalor, in terms of every side I don’t go into any game thinking the result is already done.

“Hopefully a few results go our way and we can take some big steps forward and if it doesn’t go our way hopefully we’ve improved enough to be competitive.”

Davies has maxed out his phone plan in order to strengthen Reservoir’s squad in the three months since taking over.

With recruiting largely done before Christmas and the difficulty experienced by struggling sides, the Mustangs have bucked the trend of bringing in players so close to the new season.

As a result, Davies is expecting some tough calls come Round 1.

“We’ve brought on board some good recruits but that’s the product of 100s of phone calls,” he said.

“A lot of them are through connections and guys that I’ve had dealings with in the past and you stay connected.

“We’ve had a few good players come down and really enjoy it and through that we’ve been able to get onto another contact.

“We’re pretty happy with what we’ve been able to recruit and hopefully our list is more competitive.”

Davies is confident the influx of talent will only enhance the performance of existing players.

Team of the Year midfielder Rob Holland, Tom Holloway, Zane Pugliese-Thompson and Tom Dunn have impressed despite the club’s on-field struggles.

“Zac Cuppins, who’s come down from Mulwala, it’s not news to me because I coached him last year but I think the boys have had their eyes opened to how good he is, the standard he’s at,” Davies said.

“Rob Holland, he’s made the Divvy 3 Team of the Year and won Reservoir’s best-and-fairest, I’ve been really impressed by him.

“I think having some players with similar ability around him in the midfield will make him play better and make him standout.

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“Selection will be interesting, there’ll be guys that aren’t used to playing reserves at Reservoir that will find themselves in there.

“It’s not enough to just be a walk up start for the senior side, which is what we want, we want it to be a hard side to crack and that will hopefully reflect on-field.”

Reservoir will look to follow up its strong practice match performance against North Sunshine against Northern Saints on Saturday.

The Mustangs will host league newcomer Ivanhoe in its season opener at Crispe Park on April 6.