SFNL: Ben McGee speaks on what to expect from his Bloodhounds in 2024

Despite not expecting immediate success, new Mordialloc coach Ben McGee won’t settle for being an easy side to play against. Here’s why.

Ben McGee-led Mordialloc. Picture: FACEBOOK

While under no illusions of where his side is at, new Mordialloc coach Ben McGee won’t settle for competitive in 2024.

McGee takes over from Brendon Moore, who left the club at the conclusion of the home-and-away season.

The Bloodhounds finished the 2023 season with a sour taste in their mouth after enduring three consecutive 100-point losses.

And while he McGee, 54, doesn’t expect his young group to be premiers next season, he does hope to put the plans in place for them to be a side can contend down the track.

“Our last three games were probably be something the club wasn’t proud of, we’ve got to make sure that come round 1 we’re a team that’s challenging the opposition,” he said.

“That’s where we’re at, we’re not a Cranbourne, we’re not Dingley, we’re not starting with the expectation to be top three, top two.

“We’re telling these boys to be a part of turning a club around and making it a strong player in Division 1, and that’s our biggest challenge to begin with, that this time next year we’re still in Division 1.

“I am not expecting any massive finals campaigns next year but it’s about making sure we get a plan in place for when we are at the right end of the ladder

“I am in it for the long-haul, it’s a slow burn but we understand that this is what we have to do, to put the foundation in place.

“We want other teams to go away and say we were right in their face but it’s not ‘oh we lost but we were competitive’, we still want to win games and that’s going to be very, very, prevalent in our messaging.”

Mordialloc is soon to be on the track. Picture: FACEBOOK

Come pre-season, the Bloodhounds can expect to be pushed on their work rate, as McGee is on a mission to gain the respect of opposing sides.

“There’s things you can control, and you can control work rate and effort,” he said.

“What’s symbolic of effort is your ability to be able to defend and making it difficult for the opposition to score.

“It’s something we will definitely focus on over the next six months, we will try and build a game plan off the back of that.

“From a coaching perspective, it’s about getting our playing group to buy in to be where we want to be.

“Everyone likes putting up pretty words in the dressing rooms ‘we are this, we are that’, you’re not defined by what you say about yourself, you’re defined by what the opposition says about you.

“At the moment I don’t think there would be many clubs saying ‘oh shit we’ve got Mordialloc this week, that’s going to be tough’ but that’s what we want.

“We want to make our club respected like that.”

MORDIALLOC LIST CHANGES SO FAR

IN: Tom Jaensch (St Bede’s), Jett Ryan (St Bede’s), Billy Evers (Labrador QLD), Jack Caine (St Bede’s), Dave Goodman (St Bede’s), Josh Groves (St Bede’s), Luke Goddard (St Bede’s), Mattias Valenzuela (St Bede’s)

OUT: Mitch Brown (Parkdale Vultures), Darcy Brown (injury), Dylan Gregson (Devon Meadows), Jack Bailey (Devon Meadows)