VSDCA 2018-19: New Yarraville coach Matthew Grose has high expectations

THE departures of three gun players may weaken Yarraville on paper but it does not mean the VSDCA outfit will be any less formidable this summer.

New Yarraville Cricket Club coach Matthew Grose. Picture: Hamish Blair

THE departures of three gun players may weaken Yarraville on paper but it does not mean the VSDCA outfit will be any less formidable this summer.

Prolific batsmen Matthew Love, wicketkeeper Joe Billings and ever-consistent paceman Alex Hewet have left, but new coach Matthew Grose is not lowering his expectations.

Instead he is preaching the importance of opportunity and the fact the lesser lights in the Eagles’ First XI now have the chance to lead their side into a new era.

“Obviously those players are hard to replace, but we’re still going to be really competitive and we’ve got firm visions of playing finals as well,” Grose said.

“I think we’ve definitely got the list to do that … just the core age of our playing group and our players have played together for a few years now.

“In the past, probably some of those players have realised that having Joe or ‘Lovey’ around that maybe they didn’t necessarily take the onus or the responsibility to realise they could win games.

“Maybe if we could all mature as a playing group and realise everyone’s ready to take that next step, that’s what’s going to make us a better team.”

Yarraville has qualified for finals in three of the past four seasons, with Grose set to take the new ball in 2018-19.

The 28-year-old is a former player at Premier Cricket clubs Northcote and Camberwell Magpies and has been captain-coach at Old Scotch for the past two seasons.

South African all-rounder Kyle Scheepers has linked up with the Eagles after moving to Victoria, while Mohan D’Souza will offer plenty with bat and ball after crossing from Northcote.

Matthew Love has departed Yarraville. Picture: Hamish Blair

Love (572 runs) and Billings (471) were Yarraville’s two best batsmen in 2017-18, while Hewet collected 24 wickets at 24.5, including a haul of 8-55 against Melton.

But Grose has been impressed with the talent at his disposal, with Josh Raymer, Mitchell Vine, Aidan Salvado and Scheepers among the standouts during pre-season.

The experienced Nathan Allen has retained the captaincy.

“I think our view with the squad we’ll go in with is that those players (who departed) don’t necessarily need to be replaced, but can we get improvement out of everyone to make us a better team,” Grose said.

“That’s been our mantra — we’re not going out to find the first-class player to replace ‘Lovey’ or find the ‘keeper that’s going to make the team of the season.

“I’m excited that we’re going to be able to reward guys who have been loyal servants of the club over the last few years and have been really committed over the pre-season to play games.”

Grose described Yarraville as a “well-organised club” and a “club that really looks after its people”.

He first considered joining the Eagles two years ago but is now working full-time close by at Williamstown High School.

With Hewet gone, Grose is hoping to make an impact as his team’s strike bowler.

“I’m not express by any means, but I’ll be definitely able to be relied upon by the captain and just bowl a lot of overs and hopefully bowl good overs, bring my experience and support whoever is down the other end,” he said.

“The future of the club looks really good, so from a coaching perspective it’s a group I would be really keen to work with. There’s a really receptive young group of players.

“Obviously the fact they were such a successful club over the last couple of years, I wanted to be a part of a winning culture and a strong club.

“Not just a club that was already established at the top of the table, but a club that I saw some improvement in and one I feel I can make a difference in as well.”

Yarraville is scheduled to start its South-West group campaign with a two-day clash against Williamstown on October 6 and 13.