Warriors coach on right path

FOR any new coach, mastering the balancing act that the job presents can be difficult.

First-year coach Luke Davidson is only now starting to feel fully comfortable in the demanding role at Modewarre.

“I’ve enjoyed it so far. I’m just starting to get into the way of how to manage certain players as individuals, rather than a whole team,” he said.

“I think the last couple of weeks I’ve started to figure that out and find that balance, whether that’s delegating to other players and getting them to help out rather than do it all on my own.”

After his comments in the Geelong Advertiser last week about his concerns for the commitment of younger players, he said that although the lack of commitment was “not a frustration as such”, it did make the time-poor job of team selection even harder.

“In terms of gaining momentum and that sort of thing, we’ve still had 30 blokes each week to pick from, but you get two or three from each team that play one week but can’t play the next,” he said.

Praised in the pre-season by Warriors president Peter Edwards for his ideas and match simulation training techniques, Davidson said there was still a lot of work to be done with one big goal in mind, despite sitting second on the GCA3 ladder.

“As a club I don’t think a Modewarre first XI has batted 85 overs since we’ve been in the turf competition, so that’s still a major goal, and trying to drum in the aspects of how to do it,” he said.

“In this sort of landscape where you’re playing some teams you don’t really have to do it (bat the 85) because you want to be able to get some outrights here and there.”