Tara Murray
Coming to Yarraville Cricket Club was refreshing for Jonah Koch.
Having played premier cricket since he was 15, Koch joined the Eagles earlier this year and played the second half of the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association season.
Koch was last week named as the club’s playing coach for the next two seasons, replacing Matthew Grose.
He said he was looking forward to the new challenge. Koch has been involved with coaching in the pathway system for six years at the Western Spirit and Maribyrnong College
“It’s really exciting and I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “I played after Christmas… With COVID, I wanted a bit more time off to do things.
“I really enjoyed it and my older and younger brothers both played here. It’s a good club with a lot of potential.”
Koch said while he enjoyed his time at premier cricket, which included 37 first XI games, his time at that level was finished.
He said premier cricket took up a lot of time.
“Even playing twos and pushing for ones,” he said. “It’s not just training, you have to do a lot. I came back to Yarraville and it was a new challenge and refreshing.”
Koch said he didn’t think the Eagles were too far from turning things around. The side finished 14th season in the south-west season,
“Last year we had a pretty poor finish,” he said. “We have to make sure we are competitive week in and week.
“We need to try and turn those 50-50 games that we lost last year into wins, instead of falling over at the last hurdle.
“We’ll look to bring in one or two experienced players and keep the group we have and I think we can turn it around pretty quickly.”
Koch said they might lose a few younger players to premier cricket, but said having gone through that pathway himself he understands completely the journey.
Koch said from as far as he was aware Grose would remain at the club in a playing capacity.
He said he would seek his assistance when he needed it.
“He has a wealth of knowledge,” he said. “He’s a real asset to the side.”
As for the captaincy, Koch said he was unsure whether he would captain as well. He said a couple of the players they were targeting would make great captains.
One thing Koch is looking forward to is playing more cricket with his brothers.
“The younger one was on the ones and then got dropped, but had some success and came back up,” he said.
“I’ve played premier cricket since I was 15 and haven’t played a lot of cricket with them. My younger brother has an aspiration to play premier cricket and I want to help him with the journey.
“My older brother has been captain of the threes for years. He has a wealth of knowledge and I’ll be turning to him.”
