Riddoch steadfast in face of uncertainty
LARA coach Simon Riddoch is unsure of the best path for his club as it prepares for relegation.
With a meeting imminent on the club’s future, and a shift by powerbrokers to enter the Bellarine Football League a year ahead of AFL Barwon’s scheduled promotionrelegation, Riddoch remains torn.
“I’ve really got to sit on the fence,” the first-year coach said, moments after his players exited Bisinella Oval for what could be the last time in the GFL after a winless season.
“I can’t give you an answer. It’s a political decision that the committee needs to make.
“To be honest, I said I wanted to coach the Lara Football Club and in the GFL is where we want to be and whatever happens is out of my control.
“I can only control what I can control and I’ll just continue to coach the Lara Football Club.
“In what division, that will be up to other people to make.”
Cats president Gerard Evans said the club would hold a meeting in the first week of the GFL finals to decide its next move.
A popular view is that Lara moves to the BFL next season.
Evans believes immediate relegation would help the club develop a winning culture and bounce back to the GFL within two to three years.
It has been brought criticism in some quarters and Riddoch is confident his side can take steps forward if it remains in the top league.
“I’m genuinely excited about what’s to come,” he said.
“There’s a couple of kids in the under-16s we think can become senior footballers, and there’s at least six players in our colts that could play senior footy now if they put the right work in.
“If someone had to said to me that Dan Weigl, Dan Green and Matt Spence would play at halfback next year, I’d be pleased. They’re guys that we haven’t had all year. “That’s a line that we really need to hold up and they’re quality players. We’ve got Darcy Bennett who is a key ruckman for us and he sets us up, so they’re four guys that give me a little bit of hope. “We just need to put the planning in so the guys get to the standard that we need them to.” Riddoch, who signed after the shock departure of Adrian McBean, has started recruiting in a bid to lift the struggling club off the canvas.
“And we think we’ve got a couple of handy recruits that could come to us and all of a sudden you’re in the mix to compete,” he said.
“Two guys missed out on a game in the reserves (on Saturday), so we had depth. We acknowledge we forfeited a couple of games in the reserves this year, but we’ve picked up some numbers and that adds to the excitement.
“In the last game when one would expect everyone to be dropping off, two guys missed out on a game.
“We debuted 19 players and played 44 in the seniors. If you look at North Shore, I think they’ve played 30.
“To have 44 players run through your side is not healthy, but at least we’ve had a look at them and we know what they’ve got.”
The Cats will start player interviews this week.
But the players will depart the club knowing they must meet strict criteria come November.
“I went to every player individually and gave them a expectation of where they need to be over the next six weeks,” Riddoch said.
“We’ll probably kick off pre-season around the 15th of November, but I wanted them to understand where we are.
“The club can go forward as long as they present better physically than they are right now. A lot of the guys have taken that on board and we’re looking forward.”