New-look Centurions on the march

NEW Werribee Centrals coach Nick Smith and his assistant Simon Calbert are no strangers to Civilex Oval.

As members of the club’s dominant era, the pair featured in a three-peat of senior flags from 19992001. But it is Smith’s recent Cinderella story at Mount Waverley, ending an 18-year-old premiership drought in 2016, that he now hopes to emulate in the GDFL.

“Any successful team has to follow a process and because I came in late, our focus has been on how we want to play and getting the right the personnel into our side,” Smith said.

The Centurions appear to have struck a two-forone deal by signing Smith’s son Jackson, a month after the 19-year-old won the Southern Football League’s Division 2 league best-and-fairest.

The 190cm prospect is one of 11 new faces expected to debut in Round 1.

“For me it’s not about Round 1 because it may not happen by then. I’m hoping we can get some early wins but we still want to improve gradually and do better than last year,” the coach said. “My experience shows that if you can sell everyone on the process, then the result takes care of itself.”

Blake Quarrier, 26, has been named captain, with Chris Koutzamanis, 31, deputy, while the four other members of the leadership group are still in their teens. “Part of the reason we added new faces to our leadership group is because you need to inject new culture, you can’t just have that same culture and shake it up,” Smith said.

Brad Carlton looms as one to watch after winning the club’s best-and-fairest at the age 17 before he was named a joint winner of the 2017 GDFL rookie of the year award.