James Murphy
THERE will be new leadership at the head of the pride for North Gambier in 2024.
The Tigers’ A Grade football side enters the inaugural season of the Limestone Coast Football Netball League under the tutelage of joint playing coaches Nick McInerney and Jordan Hollitt who take over the role from outgoing coach Ben Hardy.
So far the transition has gone well and McInerney said the group looked forward to the season ahead.
“It feels really positive at the moment and we are really excited to get into the year,” McInerney said.
In terms of taking on the coaching role, McInerney said he and Hollitt had been well received.
“We have been able to work together pretty well so far,” he said.
“It seems to be an exciting time for the group and the group has responded quite well to a different voice.”
The pair have no shortage of playing experience between them and will no doubt continue to lead their team by example.
As far as off-season player movements, McInerney said traffic had been mostly one sided.
The Tigers will be without the services of Tyler Christopherson this year, but have done well to pick up a list of quality returning talent.
Brock Egan ventures back to North after a stint at Penola, while Dylan Munn also slots back into the roster after a season playing at Kaniva.
“Then we have one of our former local guys Stephen Sochaki Who is playing as well,” McInerney said.
“On top of that we have another guy called Toby Nixon, who has come into town and seems like a good fit so far and a young fella originally from here but who has been over in Queensland for the last few years, by the name of Riley Ellis.
“(Ellis) played his juniors at East and has some family connections at North.”
McInerney said the focus for 2024 was to come back bigger and better than last year.
North did well to peak at the back end of the season and after finishing third, broke its way into the grand final thanks to a preliminary final upset against West Gambier.
However, the Tigers were unable to clear the final hurdle and fell to Millicent in the decider.
“We are respecting that we did finish third place and got through to the grand final (last year), but across the entire season we know we have some work to do,” McInerney said.
“We also know that our best footy could stand up against West and Millicent who were strong last year.
“Hopefully we can just build on where we finished last year.”
McInerney said numbers had been good on the training track and the club had a positive atmosphere heading into this new era of competition.
He and Hollitt will look to build on a study foundation, with a few tweaks to keep the Tigers heading in the right direction.
“When we got things right last year it did seem to work quite well,” McInerney said.
“We are just looking to continue to develop from what is existing already.”
There is no shortage of talent and experience in the North line-up, but McInerney dropped a couple of names of players he looked forward to seeing in action after solid preseasons.
“Aside from the usuals, I am excited to see what Josh Jenner can do this year, as well as young Aaron Dally who has been our standout throughout the pre-season,” he said.
“Them as well as Toby de Wit, who has had a lot more football training under his belt without playing basketball as seriously this season.
“We are excited to see a lot of development internally from the players we already had.”
McInerney looked forward to a Round 1 clash with West, which would provide a good hitout against a quality opposition straight off the bat.
“It is a long season and we will play everyone three times, but you obviously want to put your best foot forward at the start of the year and make a statement early in the year,” he said.
“We are hoping to do that.”
