A Werribee Tigers promotion ASK THE COACH

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At VFL level, recruiting is always crucial. How did you find that process?

Coach: It was my first time since the days back at Ringwood. Others like Stu Balloch (our Football Operations Manager) tell me this year was especially hard with the changing face of the competition overall and in particular in our own backyard - Williamstown going stand alone and Footscray entering the competition-both of whom were very aggressive in their recruiting strategy.

We lost players who thought they might get more of an opportunity at both those clubs. That remains to be seen. Our record is pretty impressive when it comes to the draft. Look at last year, we had three (Luke McDonald, and Ben Ross) and Kyle Hartigan the year before.

The disappointing thing is the time and work done behind the scenes for players, in terms of jobs and support, that is seemingly forgotten if the grass looks greener on the other side.

On a positive note, we have picked up some very talented players who are starting to leave their mark on the playing group. Dylan Reid (a ruckman from Brisbane club Aspley) had a slow start, but is transitioning well into the club.

We needed a key defender and Trent Shinners has joined from Essendon. He has been close to being drafted/rookied for a few years and we hope we can help make that happen.

Jesse Crichton joins us after 4 years on the list at Fremantle, originally from Tassie. Jesse has fitted in really well. He is a rebounding defender who can also play on the wing. Tom Gribble came through the Geelong Falcons program and joins us from Geelong VFL. He believes he will get a bigger opportunity to be drafted playing with us.

What are your expectations of the playing group for 2014?

That they look to improve each week on the training track, and that we are competitive in each game we play.

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