Tara Murray
Spotswood is hoping being better in the key moments of games will help it go further in the Victorian Sub-District Cricket Association east-west competition.
The Woodsman narrowly missed out on finals in their first season in the competition last season, having shown some really positive signs.
On the back of another strong pre-season playing coach Dan Schuppan is hopeful of making further progress.
“Last year we wanted to gain respect and I think that we did that,” he said.
“Now the aim is to make finals. We want to try and improve to win enough games to play finals.”
The Woodsmen have looked to strengthen their squad, adding three players with premier cricket experience.
Former Melbourne Uni coach Atony Keely joins the club, as does his former Melbourne Uni teammate Jarrod Martignago.
Schuppan said he was keen to bounce ideas off Keely, who said was also a gun cricketer looking to enjoy just playing cricket.
Former Victorian under-17 player Taylor Tatterson joins from his home club Stratford in Gippsland.
He previously played with Carlton
On the other side the Woodsmen have lost Jarryd Vernon, who has returned to his local club Gisborne.
Schuppan said they believed they were a stronger side this year.
“We’re really happy with how we’re setting up,” he said. “Jarryd is a big loss, but we’ve recruited three high end quality players.
“All three are batters and we think we have a pretty formidable batting line up. Our game style will be more bat-heavy, hopefully we get some more wins.”
Schuppan said the group was crying out to play red ball cricket after only one-dayers the last two seasons.
He said it was a new challenge, but one they were looking forward to.
Schuppan said the disappointing end to last season had taught them a lot of lessons they would look to use this season.
The side was sitting second at the Christmas break and just needed to win in the final round to play finals, but weren’t able to.
“The hunger is there,” he said. “It’s about staying in games longer and winning the key moments.
“All our XIs posted what they were good at and what they needed to improve. One of those points that came up was the group being able to win those key moments.
“We did a lot of things right and had a reasonable year, but we won those key moments and we turned our season around.”
Schuppan said they would again have a lot of youth coming through their lower grades.
Spotswood is hoping to start its season on Saturday after day one of the season was cancelled due to grounds not ready due to heavy rain.
The round one match against Werribee is now scheduled as a one-dayer this Saturday.
in other matches, Altona is set to host Croydon, Hoppers Crossing is set to play Yarraville and Williamstown is set to travel to Donvale.
