Page 18 - THE CHRONICLE, Wednesday, February 5, 2014 wangarattachronicle.com.ausport

By SCOTT ANDERSON

THE Country Basketball League season may have come to an end for Wangaratta’s head coaches, Jason Bannerman and Jacqui Henry, but there will be lit-tle time for rest for the highly rated pair.

Bannerman and Henry have been recognised as being among the best in the business in North East Victoria, getting the nod to take the reins with the Victorian Basketball League’s newest club – the Wodonga Wolves.

Bannerman will coach the Lady Wolves, while Henry will lead the men’s side.

While the teams are likely to retain the Wodonga name for this season, which kicks off in March, Bannerman said they would oper-ate as regional sides.

“The idea is that the club will cover a lot of the North East re-gion, so we will have a number of players from Wangaratta and Albury as well,” Bannerman said.

“Ultimately I think the name will change, but I think it may

need to remain for the first year.“It’s another big step for basket-

ball in the region, and it’s going to help us to keep quality players in the area.”

Despite only getting the gig in late December, Bannerman has wasted little time building his side.

“Alana Sutton will come over, and I believe she is going to have a lot to offer,” he said.

“She has been a standout in the CBL, and I think she is going to thrive among the tougher competi-tion and really push for a spot in the starting five.

“We will also have players like Rachel Jeffery, who has been one of the CBL’s leading scorers in the last 3-4 years, Stacey De Koyer who I’m thinking will run the point, along with Sarah Melling-ton and Jade McGowan.”

Bannerman said it was not only a great opportunity for local play-ers, but also for himself.

“You don’t get too many op-portunities like this come along,” he said.

“I love the job, I’m prepared to travel and I feel I have a lot to offer.

“I’m always looking to better myself as a coach, and these are the opportunities to do that.

“And I’m looking forward to bringing that experience back to Wangaratta if I get the job with the Warriors again next season.”

Henry, meanwhile, is still in the midst of selecting her squad, but said it was shaping up nicely.

“We are looking at putting to-gether a squad of around 15-16 players who can train together each week, and then picking our best side on a weekly basis,” she said.

“Part of that is the fact that we’ve got players who are going to be trying out for the under 18 state team, and if they make that then there will be eight weeks where they are unavailable.

“We have some good young players from Wangaratta coming over in Lloyd Wright and Chris-tian Paynter, who is coming from the under 18 Warriors.

“It’s a very exciting chance for these young players to get to go down and compete against the state’s best players in Melbourne.”• Jason Bannerman • Jacqui Henry

Coaches earn big jobs

The Hawks have relied on defensive superiority to win games in the past, and Hartwig said that resilience wouldn’t be affected by the changes in personnel.

“My role isn’t going to change too much – whoever I am on, my job is going to be to shut them down, and that’s go-ing to be the mentality of eve-ryone in our back six,” he said.

“You’ll have a couple of guys who play with a bit of flair, and you need those guys to take the game on and to give you run.

“But it’s pretty simple really – you just have to shut down your man and help out where you can.

“I think we will be just as strong defensively, but we will just be a more dangerous side offensively with a few more targets to kick to.”

It’s not just on the field

where the changes have taken place for the Hawks – the coaching structure has also un-dergone a complete overhaul.

“It’s been a good change,” Hartwig said.

“Mick Caruso was an unreal coach – he’s up to date with everything and very specific about what he wants done.

“And Paul (Maher) is the same – he has everything set out well in advance.

“The biggest difference has probably been that Paul has taken on a lot of support and knowledge from other guys, so we have a few more assistant coaches.

“Jamie Sheahan and Sean O’Keeffe are the on-field assis-tants, and I’m helping out with the backline stuff with Matt Allen, so it’s nice having a bit of extra help in those areas.

“It’s not a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth – it’s just about having a few differ-

ent angles to look at things, and also spreading the load.”

Since rejoining the Hawks two years ago, Hartwig has been among the side’s most consistent players and hasn’t missed a game, putting the foot and shoulder issues that ruined his 2011 season with Aspley far behind him.

“I’m feeling awesome,” he said.

“Each year I try to strength-en a certain area or develop a certain part of my game – whether it be skills wise or fit-ness and conditioning wise.

“I’ve had two years of un-injured football, and I couldn’t have expected that coming back after a bad run with injury.

“Having had consecutive uninterrupted seasons just gives you a good foundation to build upon, and I feel like my head is really around football now.”

Hartwig said the excitement

surrounding the club was pal-pable, and while it has been enhanced by the arrival of new recruits it is just as evident around the home grown prod-ucts.

“The chemistry and make-up of the side is going to be a lot different now, but I think every part of that is for the bet-ter,” he said.

“We’ve got a new way of playing football that is going to make us more predictable to ourselves, and more consist-ent.

“We’ve got some ripping guys coming up from the twos who are now blitzing the pre-season – I’m talking Mitch Booth, James Smith, Dylan Wilson, and a handful of other blokes who are really impress-ing.

“There is as much excite-ment about those blokes as there is about the new guys coming in.”

NEW BLOOD: Wangaratta Rovers captain Tyson Hartwig (centre) with new recruits (from left) Daniel Archer, Lochie Dornauf, James Mulligan and Jarrad Boumann. PHOTO: Luke Plummer

From back page

Hartwig excited about new Hawks

WITH the cricket and tennis all but done, round one of the 2014 AFL season can’t come quickly enough.

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