JOEYS ONLY NEED A FEW GOOD MEN
ST JOSEPH’S coach Andrew Hodgson says his club will look to bolster its batting stocks as it presses for a return to GCA1 finals.
After landing Geelong pair Scott Condy and Billy Hyde to strengthen their bowling brigade, Hodgson is confident of adding to the top seven that battled for much of last season.
“We’ve got enough pointswise to get pretty much whoever we like, it’s just about working on a couple of those players to see where they’re at and how they fit in with us,” Hodgson said.
“I’m pretty confident we’ll have someone, hopefully before our October start.
“We’re looking to tie up some batting (recruits) and we’re still talking to a few guys there, but it’s about depth and having plenty of options.
“Last year we were riddled with unavailability for a lot of the year, and that happens in a summer sport, but I think we’ll have a more consistent squad to pick from this year and hopefully not as many injuries.”
Finishing on the bottom in 2019-20, Hodgson conceded his side was inconsistent, but he stressed Joeys were not far off the mark.
“We were really disappointing in the last two games of the season, but other than that, we were in games of cricket, but we let a couple of games slip,” Hodgson said.
“A couple of our senior guys, myself included, weren’t as consistent as previously. Making 30 or 40 instead of 70plus was probably the difference in a couple of our games.
“Natural improvement from a few of our young guys will continue, but you always want the older guys like myself Luke (Ibbs), Bushy (Matt Tarbett) and now Scott Condy to be playing really good cricket.”
One of the competition’s elite top-order batters, Hodgson was down on his usual best, returning 325 runs at an average of 27.08 in 12 games in 2019-20.
But he insists the demands of coaching had no impact on his form.
“I changed jobs and I was going to Melbourne for work and I had a fair bit on. I didn’t feel terribly out of form, but sometimes you have those seasons,” Hodgson said.
“I’d had three fairly consistent years and it was more disappointing that Luke had a really good year and I didn’t go with him.”