General News
8 April, 2021
Power welcoming Allansford challenges
KOLORA Noorat coach Ben Walsh admits the build-up to Saturday’s opening round is a little different to usual.
KOLORA Noorat coach Ben Walsh admits the build-up to Saturday’s opening round is a little different to usual.
The Power will begin its premiership defence on the road against Allansford, some 18 months after it claimed the 2019 flag.
Walsh, one of the competition’s more organized coaches, said the COVID-19 hiatus had made it difficult to prepare for round one given information was limited on opposition clubs compared to other years.
Instead he said more focus was being placed on his own team, which he has found interesting considering he often meticulously studies his club’s upcoming opponent.
“It’s a funny one having not seen anyone for the last 12 months in terms of opposition,” Walsh said.
“All we can do is focus on ourselves and pick a balanced side and then, as we get the first few games under our belt, we’ll have a better understanding of where we’re at.
“We’re just focusing mainly on ourselves but obviously there will be key players for them to keep an eye out for and we’ll be prepared for a few different things as well.
“The boys are excited and keen to hit the ground running on Saturday.”
Given the unknown of its opposition, Walsh said the Power would need to be flexible, particularly early in the season.
They have three tough tests ahead of them beyond this weekend’s clash, which has the premiership coach planning for multiple scenarios.
A number of those scenarios come back to positioning, with Walsh prepared to throw the magnets around in a bid to add more firepower to his side’s arsenal.
“We’d like to think we’ve got guys who can play in multiple positions in two parts of the ground if not three,” he said.
“We know we’ll have some options depending on size or if things aren’t going our way and need to be changed, so we can move just about every player if we want.
“We’ll try and cover all bases and worry about ourselves as well as try to find our best make-up and it’ll be the same with the opposition.
“We’ve got a big first month to start the season. We have Merrivale, Russells Creek and Nirranda coming up and I expect all three to be challenging.”
While Walsh expects the clashes with Merrivale, Russells Creek and Nirranda to be challenging, he admitted it was also the perfect scenario for its side given last year’s lay-off.
“We want to know where we’re at as quickly as possible so after the first month we’ll have a fair idea of how we’re tracking,” he said.
“That’s exciting because we’ll need to perform.
“There’ll be some rust and cobwebs to get out but the boys are fit and healthy and ready to get stuck in.”
Meanwhile, the Power’s A grade netballers will hit the court for the first time under coach Carolyn Carlin against the Cats.
Carlin said the playing group was looking forward to its competitive return after spending the past two months preparing diligently for the season.
“It will be great for the girls to put into practice all the hard work from the pre-season and to put on the Power dress once again,” she said.
“I just want the girls to go out and enjoy what they all missed last year, which was playing netball.”
The new mentor is set to limit expectations on her team first-up, adding it would be a good reward for her players to get the first game under their belt regardless of the scoreboard.
“We all want to go out and try our best but my biggest thing is just for the girls to touch the ball and to step out onto the court to play with their team-mates and friends again,” Carlin said.
“It’s not a huge expectation (early), it’s just about touching the ball and having a look around and getting a bit of reward for their pre-season.
“It’ll be good for them because we’ve been training since the start of February and we expect to be competitive but it’s about getting reward for effort.”
The Power will have a number of new faces in its senior ranks this season which Carlin said was adding optimism to her playing group.
“We’ve got girls from the under 17s in 2019 stepping up into A and A reserve which is pretty exciting because some of those girls started in the juniors and are now moving into the senior levels,” she said.
“We’ve also got girls who’ve come to the club because they have new jobs in the area which is also very positive and exciting to for the club.”
Carlin said it was likely Allansford would be in a similar boat to Kolora-Noorat in terms of having personnel changes, adding she expected the first game to be a challenge.