Nightcliff Dragons focused on youth development after announcing coaching staff for 2021

NIGHTCLIFF Dragons are quietly confident they’re heading in the right direction for next year, with plenty of buy-in from key personnel and the reinstatements of A-grade coach Reg Rose and B-grade coach Willie May.

Nightcliff coaches and assistants from left - Willie May, Dennis Hill, Dave Johansen, Mark Wright, Brent Crisp, Karl Younger and Reg Rose. Picture: Glenn Campbell

NIGHTCLIFF Dragons are quietly confident they’re heading in the right direction for next year, with plenty of buy-in from key personnel and the reinstatements of A-grade coach Reg Rose and B-grade coach Willie May.

Rose has spent a long time at Dragons, joining the club at the age of 12 and becoming part of the senior playing group in 2006.

He made his first stint as A-grade coach in the disrupted 2020 season after taking over from Merg Mikaelian, and although his side went out in the minor semi-final he’s eager to get stuck in once again.

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In a key addition, joining him as an assistant playing-coach will be former Canterbury Bulldogs player Brent Crisp, who will bring plenty of experience and knowledge to the side that last lifted the premiership trophy in 2015.

Matthew Woolmington and 2020 captain David Paull are others who will be looked to for experience, but it’s the juniors that the club is putting a special focus on this season.

“It’s exciting. Last year was tough but I want to go again particularly with the club moving in a positive direction,” Rose told the NT News.

“It was hard to keep everyone interested to begin with but once we got going it felt like we were heading in the right direction.

“We may have fallen short but (premiers) Brothers showed that anyone can win with the right sort of formula and we want to take a leaf out of their book with their focus on juniors.

“Darwin is so transient so you need to have that young base. We were impressed with the young guys that came through last season including Ethan Muller who has plenty of talent.

“Improvement is on the agenda across the club on and off the field. We want to achieve and that comes from building our club, our coaches and our juniors.”

May will return to coaching duties in B-grade after a successful 2020 campaign which saw his side finish as the 22-20 premiership victors over Litchfield Bears.

The result earned the full endorsement of the club, with Dragons president Mark Wright deeply impressed with the buy in the coach had received from the players.

“The last year was a bit of learning curve for everyone with COVID messing everything around,” Wright told the NT News.

“Been very impressed with how professional Reg has been and how he has gone about things this year and the club has given him heaps of support.

“(On May) you don’t get any better than winning a premiership. His ability to pull all the players and get them working as a unit has really impressed us and we hope to see the same again.

“The whole club has a positive vibe at the moment and we’ve already seen a 40 per cent increase in sponsorship and on the field we have full buy in from everyone involved.

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“We also have our junior academy starting again in January. It’s not just about developing as footballers but developing them as good people on and off the field.”