Harper Sercombe
Plenty of experience has walked out the door of Footscray throughout the off season, however the Victorian Premier Cricket club remains excited and bullish on its finals hopes.
After finishing last season with straight set finals losses, the winter was never going to be easy for the Bulldogs, not to mention the more than 900 games of experience leaving the club.
Club great Dean Russ announced his retirement after more than 300 first XI games. Russ averaged 54 runs last season and took 15 wickets from his 15 games.
Opening batsman, Daniel Sartori also left the club, after averaging 42 runs for the season.
Front line bowler Jay Vine caused headaches when he announced his retirement a few months after the conclusion of the season.
Bulldogs’ coach Dale McDonald said you’re probably never going to replace that experience.
“But in terms of youth, we’ve had some really good depth, so I think we’ll be able to replace some positions but to say that you’re ever going to replace that experience, well that’s probably not going to be close to the mark,” he said.
“We’ve got quite a strong list and we’ve recruited a number of new players which has been really good.”
One of the players the Bulldogs have been able to recruit includes mystery spinner Arjun Nair.
Nair has played first class cricket for New South Wales and BBL club Sydney Thunder. Nair played 58 games for the Thunder, taking 22 wickets, five times for NSW, taking four wickets and another 20 in his 15 List A matches.
“He replaces ‘Russy’ to an extent in that top order and also from a bowling point of view,” McDonald said. “Last year in all formats he took about 90 wickets so he’s a fairly good replacement… he’s got that X-factor about him.”
Another recruit the Bulldogs have acquired is Jermaine Levy, a West Indian fast bowler to replace Vine as their front line quick.
When Levy was last in Australia, playing for Bentleigh, he took 28 wickets in 16 matches at an average of 17.
“He’s played first class cricket back in Barbados, and he arrives next week, so we’re looking forward to seeing him,” McDonald said.
The Bulldogs finished second on the ladder last season and suffered two heartbreaking losses to Melbourne and St Kilda in the finals to put an end to their campaign, however, McDonald doesn’t expect the losses to bear any weight on his players’ minds.
“From a senior list point of view we identified the areas where we thought we went wrong and spoke about them, and now we’ve worked on those things during preseason,” he said.
“So I don’t think there’ll be any carry over from that.”
Within the overall club championship the Bulldogs finished the summer in sixth position, on 551 points, with a big aim of the club for the upcoming season to improve on this finish.
“We want to finish really high in the club championship, that’s really important,” McDonald said.
“We’ve got really good depth through all of our grades, not just our first XI.
“I think we’ve definitely strengthened all of our grades across the board.
“I think we’re in a pretty strong position, but I think every club would have the same answer at this time of year.”
