Watsonia coach George Lattouf rejects talk of relegation in 2020
Despite being expected to fight for survival in 2020, Watsonia coach George Lattouf says the club believes it can challenge for the NFL Division 2 top five after a solid recruiting campaign.
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Watsonia coach George Lattouf has rejected the doomsayers’ forecast that his club is the favourite to be relegated from NFL Division 2 in 2020.
The Saints have won just three games in the past two years, avoiding relegation in 2018 thanks to a league restructure and finishing above only Epping last season.
With one club set to suffer the dreaded drop from Division 2 this year, Watsonia, Epping, Fitzroy Stars and newly-promoted Panton Hill are expected to battle for survival.
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However, Lattouf is instead setting his sights on challenging the competition’s top five.
“For me, as long as every week we play a good brand of football, success will come,” he said.
“We’re very positive in regards to where we’re going as a club, we’re not thinking about relegation, we’re thinking about that fifth position.”
Watsonia’s recruiting campaign got off to a strong start with the addition of Lalor captain Josh Novelli.
Novelli was a premiership player at West Preston-Lakeside in 2018 when Lattouf was an assistant coach before spending one season with the Bloods.
Jacob Pickett, Jesse Presser (both Greensborough), Milad Almatrah (Bundoora) and Xavier Cahill (Montmorency) have arrived in search of more senior opportunities.
Pickett played nine senior games last year and was a member of the Borough’s reserves grand final side, while Almatrah featured on the opposing side as the Bulls claimed the Division 1 reserves premiership.
Cahill made six appearances for the Magpies’ senior team.
Lattouf said the culture of improvement helped draw players to the club.
“We talk about the culture of our football club, it’s about continuous improvement, the buy in is not about the financial part of it, it’s about playing together as a team,” he said.
“We want to make our club a destination club, they saw our vision and they came to us.”
Watsonia begins its 2020 season away to St Mary’s on April 4.
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