Northcote confirms coaching changes for 2021-22 Premier Cricket season
Northcote has confirmed a new-look coaching structure for the 2021-22 Premier Cricket season with Warren Pereara taking on a head of coaching role.
Local Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local Sport . Followed categories will be added to My News.
Northcote has installed a new-look coaching structure for the 2021-22 Premier Cricket season.
Dragons stalwart Warren Pereara will head up an expanded coaching staff, his head of cricket role shifting to head of coaching.
A number of development coaches will then work under Pereara across the four grades with Troy Rowe and Michael Topp appointed senior batting and bowling coaches respectively.
Pereara hoped the model would create a more high performance environment at Bill Lawry Oval.
“Traditionally, you have a coach, an assistant coach and a few other people, which is too few for a lot of people,” he said.
“This way we’ll have five or six development coaches that will scatter themselves around and that gives me time to overlook the whole program but also have those one-on-one discussions and time for one-on-one coaching.
“Head of cricket involves coaching, chairman of selectors and recruiting, so it’s no different to what I’ve been doing for the last eight or nine years anyway.
“We’re at a point now as a club where we think we’ve got enough IP that we should be utilising.
“We’ll have more of a focus on making our people better in general … as much work will go into a First or Second XI player as a Third and Fourth XI player.”
Rowe is a former Northcote coach, Melbourne Renegades Big Bash League assistant coach and premiership coach at Kew.
Topp was one of the recruits of the season in 2020-21, taking 29 wickets (fifth most in Premier Cricket) at 14.38, after crossing from Ringwood.
“If he was recruit of the season playing wise, he was recruit of the season non playing wise,” Pereara said.
“It’s all the other stuff he does, he naturally talks to guys, he’s actively involved and spends as much time with ones and twos players as he does with threes and fours players.”
Northcote is not expected to be a big player in the off-season recruiting market.
The Dragons have lost coach and Ryder Medallist Steve Taylor to retirement and youngster Aryaman Bhardwaj to Dandenong.
Meanwhile, top-order batsman Max O’Sullivan will return from a one-season retirement.
Pereara is confident if the club can improve the young talent already on its list then it will have no trouble returning to finals.
Billy Cootee, Seamus Keogh, Jaga Koduru, Daniel Lalor and Bhardwaj were all named in the Victoria Under-19 squad.
VTCA: NEW COACH, CAPTAIN, BIG-NAME RECRUIT AT ABERS
LEADER: GET YOUR PREMIER CRICKET NEWS HERE
PREMIER: NEWMAN MAKES SHOCK SWITCH TO ST KILDA
“The simple motto is, if we can make all our players 10 per cent better then you’ll have more recruits than you’ll ever have,” he said.
“If we can, with his structure, continually challenge people and try and make them better than you’ve automatically got numerous recruits.
“There’ll come a time when we need to bring someone in … but at this stage we feel we’re OK.
“We’ve got five or six players that have played more than 100 games of First XI cricket, so there’s enough intel and we just need to use it better.”
Tones and I’s husband blasts match-winning innings
The husband of Australian pop megastar Tones and I blasted Frankston YCW to victory in a last-over thriller after a knee injury threatened to sink the Stonecats. Meanwhile, there were big scores and bags of wickets throughout the MPCA grades.
Last ball thriller amid match-winning performances
Marcus Murphy was Preston’s hero in a last-ball thriller as the likes of Tom Scriven, Rishi Patel, Harshan Yogendra and Simon Hill lit up Subbies cricket.