West Coburg to use finals pain as motivation for VTCA Division 1 season

VTCA Division 1 promotion contender West Coburg has stumbled at the semi-final hurdle in the past two seasons but coach Michael Pratt believes the lessons learnt can drive the club to success in 2020-21.

Michael Pratt keeps an eye on the ball for West Coburg.

West Coburg coach Michael Pratt says the club must become more ruthless if it is to achieve its goal of reaching VTCA Senior Division.

The Redbacks have fallen agonisingly short of the Division 1 grand final in the past two years and lost two semis and a grand final between 2013-14 and 2015-16.

The club will certainly have its work cut out for it this season with a restructured Division 1 expanding to 12 teams but remaining a top-four finals system.

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“We’ve got to be a bit more ruthless in finals there’s no doubt about that, so the pressure is on us,” Pratt said.

“You have to reflect on finals because if you don’t you’re clearly not looking at your own performance closely enough.

“Hats off to Glenroy, they were too good for us on the day after we beat them the week before, but the better team won on the day and we’ll come back stronger from that.

Michael Pratt in action for West Coburg. Picture: Julian Smith

“We’re going to have to jump from the front but if you don’t that doesn’t mean you can’t make (finals).”

“Finals is the aspiration for all of our grades … but making it is one thing, winning it is another.

“Senior Division is definitely our goal, we’ve got a bit of improvement to get there, but it’s not that far away.”

West Coburg have retained the playing list that has seen them finish second in the home-and-away season in consecutive years.

Anthony Alleyne (489 runs at 54.33) and Mohomed Feshal (374 at 41.56) finished third and fourth respectively in the Isaacs Shield run-scorers charts.

Meanwhile, Pratt will again lead the bowling attack after claiming 26 wickets – third most in the competition – at an average of 13.08 last season.

Mohomed Feshal in action for West Coburg. Picture: Hamish Blair

Former Redbacks junior Will Mott is the only major addition, returning from Mercantile Cricket Association outfit Youlden Parkville.

“He’s a promising young kid, he’s an all-rounder – probably more bat than ball – but we think we can play a role on both sides,” Pratt said.

Like several clubs, West Coburg’s pre-season training was hampered by Melbourne’s 25km travel limit and Mernda-based captain Michael Rosendale was unable to attended training.

However, Pratt is confident the club will be ready to go for Round 1 with the one-day season to make every week a challenge.

“While I’m more of a fan to the two-day game, the great thing about one-day cricket it’s more of a level playing field,” he said.

“You can have a couple of bad games but you can rebound really quickly and have a couple of good games.

“I think in two-day cricket the better team usually wins but in one-dayers if you get off to a good start or take a couple of quick wickets it’s anyone’s games.”

The Redbacks will host Tullamarine at Morris Reserve in the season opener on November 21.