MID SEASON REPORT WITH FOOTBALL MANAGER BRAD DODD

June 30 has ticked over and the club has managed to add some late additions to the squad in Kyle White and Eddie Simpson. Tell us a little about them and how the moves came about?

BD: It’s well known that our big man department took a bit of a hit, and when Brynn Teakle was drafted to Port Adelaide we felt we needed reinforcements.

We looked high and low for players we thought could provide some cover for Jeremy Goddard and Reuben McGuire and were lucky enough to bring in Kyle and Eddie. Kyle is a developing ruckman, who will get plenty of opportunities to lead the ruck in the Reserves. He had stagnated at Peel and was looking for a fresh start. He is a more long term prospect but he’s settled in really well. He still has some way to go but has impressed with his competitiveness so far.

The opportunity to add Eddie came about through some open dialogue with East Perth. They were also keen to add some players and had spoken to a couple of our listed players in Nic Bonomelli and Cam Davidson. Once they were keen to explore their opportunities at the Royals, we asked the question about Eddie and the deal was done pretty quickly. Eddie has fitted in really well and will add a different look to our forward line. 

It’s been a really positive start to the season and the Sharks sit 2nd with 8 games to go, where has the improvement come from?

BD: There’s been improvement across the board and a lot of the gains were made in the pre-season. There is a real inner drive within the young players in the group to get better and that competitiveness really came to the fore during the summer months.

The competition for spots is the strongest it's been in my time at the club and that competitive environment ensures that players need to perform each week to hold. The players now believe their best football is good enough to beat anybody. 

There has been some injuries to key players in Baskerville, Leggett and O’Reilly this season, while Josh Schoenfeld returned for his first game in the Reserves last round, has the ability to cover these losses surprised you?

BD: Bill and the coaching group have created some real versatility within the squad and that has really paid dividends so far this season. Not just from week to week, but within games. Most of the players can play multiple roles and this has been developed over a number of seasons.

While some players like to be settled in a position, being able to play multiple roles has really been beneficial for guys like Matt Burton, Cody Smith, Corey Holmes, Max Murphy and Rueben McGuire. 

The Reserves have been competitive without chalking the wins, how have you seen their progress?

BD: We have a real focus on individual and team performance over results in our development programs and we have seen some positive strides in a lot of players.

Like most, our Reserves are very young and Bradd Dalziell, Jesse Crichton and Kane Lucas are really driving the program in order to fast track players into becoming League footballers.

We are committed to throwing challenges to the individual and we have seen performance improvement from Jack Norrish, Sam Collins, Keanu Haddow, Kale Paton, Jackson McManus and Ethan Paholski, to name a few. 

How have you seen the Colts season and are we likely to see any players graduate to League over the backend of the season?

BD: The Colts squad is a really even group and over the first half of the season we have seen some of the squad promoted to the Reserves for 2-3 game stints. At the moment, Luke Yeo is up training and playing Reserves and we’ll look to bring others up over the rest of the season. Jed Hagan and Jack Cleaver are currently away on State duties and I’d hope they would be pushing hard for League through strong performance when they return.

Adrian Ricciardello and his team have done a great job at driving home the importance of basic fundamentals within the group. 

With 8 games to go, what are your expectations for the rest of the season?

BD: Nothing much has changed, continue to strive to get better, compete and ensure we’re doing everything we can to allow the players to perform week in - week out. Pretty basic stuff really. 

End

This weeks Round 12: