Out but not over … Lauderdale has what it takes, says Winter

Three empty trips to the well has not extinguished the fire for Darren Winter to continue leading Lauderdale but it doesn’t guarantee he’ll be at the helm in 2020.

Lauderdale coach Darren Winter at quarter time during the Tasmanian State League grand final 2019. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

THREE empty trips to the well has not extinguished the fire for Darren Winter to continue leading Lauderdale but it doesn’t guarantee he’ll be at the helm in 2020.

Foe the third successive TSL season Winter was left to console a shattered playing group post siren after they again came up short against North Launceston in the grand final.

Winter is by far the longest serving coach in the competition and has been around football long enough to know the questions on whether he can extract any more from the list will be asked.

And while he believes he is the man that can lead the charge to break the drought, he will sit down with the club and discuss his future when the dust settled from the 29-point loss at Blundstone Arena.

“I’ve still got the fire. But that doesn’t mean I’ll do the job,” Winter said.

“The job will be by the person that we think is best to move the club forward.

“If you’ve coached three losing grand finals then I suppose that’s the question that we’ll probably spend the most time on.

“That’s something we’ll talk about, that’s what we’ve talked about already and we’ll have a discussion about whether they need someone fresher to come in and take over.”

What Winter is certain on is the current squad has the capabilities to end the dominance of their northern counterparts.

The southern Bombers were within striking distance at three quarter time and when Ben McGuinness slotted the first goal of the last quarter the margin was just nine points.

However North showed exactly why they are one of the best sides seen in Tasmanian football history by steading when the contest was on the line.

“Going into the last quarter I think we were two goals down. That’s pretty close and we probably didn’t play as well as we’d like to in the last quarter,” Winter said.

“One thing goes right in the last quarter and it’s a different game and I suppose there’s different pressure.

“What we have got at the club and what we’ve got coming through is good enough to hold us in good stead to move forward.

“We’ve lost a grand final and everybody’s upset, but we will pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and the guys will start training in another six or seven weeks and get ready for another season.”