Geelong United coach Chris Lucas opens up on challenges of building WNBL franchise’s first roster

Ahead of Geelong’s United first WNBL game, coach Chris Lucas goes inside his roster build and the number one attribute he was looking for. Plus, the final piece set to put pressure on rotations.

Geelong United coach Chris Lucas, pictured last season with Melbourne Boomers. Picture: Mark Nolan/Getty Images

Chris Lucas is expecting hurdles in the Geelong United’s first season in the WNBL but the two-time title championship coach says he “thrives” when it comes to building a new team.

Lucas has embraced the challenge of assembling the new franchise's first roster, similarly to how he started in Townsville in 2011 after a change of ownership structure for the Fire before going on to lead the Fire to back-to-back titles and four-straight grand final appearances.

“I thrive in this environment and I had the same situation in Townsville back in 2011-12,” Lucas said.

“I’m really excited about, we’re a young team, we lack experience in the younger players, we’ve got three senior players, in 27, 28 and 34 (year olds) as seniors but the rest of the girls are on their low 20s and the work ethic... to challenge them to work hard hasn’t been a problem.”

Lucas said there would “no doubt” be challenges in the first 12 months for Geelong United, with the team already working through some injury issues during pre-season.

When it came to filling out his roster, Lucas described it as a difficult process balancing athletes, managers and budgets, though the astute mentor revealed he worked his way through a long list of possible recruits, while several players he hoped to develop were all put on two-year deals similar to the one he signed.

“When we were unsuccessful (with recruiting a player), we’d move to the next best option for us,” Lucas explained.

“You don’t always get it right but my recruitment policy is recruit people first and players second.

“And I live and die by that, and I feel like for now — we haven’t started playing obviously and then the challenges become bigger — but this group... I feel like we’ve got that right now.”

As for Geelong’s style of play, Lucas predicted it would be “fun to watch”.

“I want the players to embrace that but also enjoy it,” he said.

“They have to enjoy what they do and if they can show that, and show how they feel about each other and express that in the way we play, I think that’s super important.”

Monique Conti will finish her AFW season with Richmond before joining Geelong United. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Meanwhile, Lucas believed Monique Conti would make an immediate impact for the team, despite what will be a delayed start to the WNBL season due to ongoing AFLW duties.

With Conti and her Richmond teammates in a position to play finals, it could be as long as a month into the new season before the 24-year-old joins the new franchise.

But Lucas, who spoke to Conti as recently as Thursday night though largely liked to give her space, is no stranger to managing the dual-sport athlete’s packed schedule, having done so at Melbourne Boomers last season before Conti went on to enjoy a career-best season on court.

“I think it took us about three weeks last year,” Lucas recalled.

“It was actually quite amusing, she’d come on court in games and because of the physicality of the AFLW, she had three fouls very quickly.

“We’ll give her a bit of time but once she slots in, she’s going to put pressure on me as the coach, just because of who she is and what she brings to the group, she’ll be pretty demanding for court time, and I want that, I want pressure on rotations.

“If Richmond keep winning, obviously it's going to delay that but we’re looking forward to having Mon in our group and getting to full strength.”

Originally published as Geelong United coach Chris Lucas opens up on challenges of building WNBL franchise’s first roster