The senior coach has started discussions with the players and committee. “I believe all of the A Grade players have committed which is fantastic. Unfortunately, we’ve lost Luke Backhouse (moved to Brisbane) and Kalen Bradtke (AFL) as well as our imports Mitch Wagstaff and Arthur Godsal.
“Those guys will be greatly missed not just as players because they did so much good for the club off the field. So yes, we will look to add to our squad with one or two imports/professionals to the squad which we are actively working on.”
The Roos are also trying to get some past players back to help strengthen B & C Grade as well as providing depth to A Grade.
“We could look at recruiting externally, which we are open to, but I would like to try and get some home-grown talent back as they deserve the first crack and hopefully it will build a good community and social buzz/vibe around the club, especially with the football club taking a hit this season,” Thomas said.
“We can’t take it for granted and need to be proactive.”
When asked by The Free Press to comment on last season, Thomas said it was a tough year with the floods, having to adapt training sessions and not having home advantage hurt.
“But once we got through that we had a good second half to the season. It takes a bit for me to build relationships with the players and for them to trust the process and strategies we put in place. For example, I like to try and play positive/aggressive cricket, take the game on, so I was trying to push and give the batsmen confidence to play their shots and not be afraid to get out; same for the bowlers with attacking the stumps and looking to encourage shots - you might go for more runs but hopefully take more wickets,” he said.
“I think a good example was when we played New City - not our highest score but nearly scored 200 off 38 overs. We’re not necessarily worried about batting the overs, just score the runs at a good rate and take the attack to the bowlers. Obviously, there are times you have to absorb pressure when the opposition are bowling well but you’ve also got to give it back and I think we showed that with some high scores of 230, 240, 250 and 270 against the likes of Albury, St. Pats and Tallangatta who are all strong sides.”
The coach was buoyed with batsmen taking the attack opposition bowlers, walking down the pitch at them showing no fear and I believe every batsman in the side stood up at different times. “So it was good we weren’t relying on one or two guys and probably allowed us to relax a bit more for example Matt Wilson and Jarred Lane hitting 100s, Grantham, Hatton, Hansen Godsal, Wagstaff all hitting 50s with multiple contributions down the order from the bowlers also.
“Same with the bowling side of things, Nick Grant and Paddy Lavis taking 5 fors, Hatton, Godsal and Backhouse taking 4 fors, it shows we have great depth in our side and someone is always stepping up to the challenge. There are names I haven’t mentioned but did a lot of hard work us grinding out knocks with the bat like Nathan Rhodes and Kade Wilson, then you’ve got someone like Mark Athanitis who will take control of one end with the ball so you can take risks and chop and change the bowling at the other end.
“Unfortunately, we were very inconsistent with our first eleven but that allowed us to give the chance to the younger players like Jay Lavis, Paddy Lavis and Jack Eales who all stood up to the challenge and they will be better for it next season. We have a lot of good talent coming through and one example of that is Jay Lavis making the U17 NSW Academy which is very exciting for him and the club, it shows there are opportunities for our country cricketers to go as far as they want if they put the effort in.”
Thomas believes that’s something the club can take going forward as individuals, a team and a club, the confidence and belief.
“I think we realise we’re good enough to play in this strong CAW competition and that we belong here,” he concluded.
Corowa Cricket Club has its AGM this Friday at Balldale pub and will be looking to try and get some fresh blood and more hands-on deck into our club structure as many hands make light work.
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