New Belmont boss lays plans for rise up GDFL ladder
NEW Belmont co-coach Andy Walsgott says the Lions are looking to recruit this off-season but he is “realistic” about the need to compete well in 2023 to attract players in 2024.
Walsgott and co-coach Brent Vermeulen have taken over the role from Nathan Bisset, who is now an assistant coach at GDFL rival Thomson after a 7-11 record this year.
The pair have already lured Harry Thompson to the club, who most recently played in London following a stint with Torquay in the BFL.
“I think for us … we’re in the business of trying to get as many good people to the club as we can, we haven’t sort of narrowed it down to anyone in particular,” Walsgott said.
“Obviously Brent and I have signed on for two years … you probably need, especially coming in as new coaches, a good first year for sort of people to see what we’re about and we’re actually heading in the right direction.
“It’s probably been something we’ve been battling with in a lot of our conversations, some people are not quite sure if they want to come across just yet or not quite sure if they want to drop down standard just yet.”
Walsgott drew on the recent fortunes of some other clubs across the region such as East Geelong and Geelong Amateur, who have risen back into finals contention in recent years and secured recruits off the back of those results.
“We’re definitely looking into the future as well, we want to get as many people as we can this year,” he said.
“But we are both realistic that for recruits and good quality recruits to come over, they probably want to see some progression and that we’re trending in the right direction in our first year.
“Then hopefully we can get some momentum and build on that list for (the) next year as well.”
Belmont has announced a host of re-signings on its Facebook page, however, it will lose Brent Jacques (retirement) and former captain Alex Jolley (Thomson).