Young Dolphins to keep aiming high
AN overwhelmingly youthful Gold Coast Dolphins squad could become even younger in 2019-20 but new coach Chris Swan says age will be no excuse for Queensland Premier Cricket failure.
With one of the youngest playing groups in the 12-team first grade competition – the average age in Round 1 was 20 - the Dolphins defied expectations last season to finish sixth in the two-day format.
However, hopes of building on their best result since 2015-16 have taken a blow in the off-season with the departure of first grade regulars Kevin Chapman (30) and Mitch Daly (26), as well as sporadic contributors Howard Biddle (24) and Josh Nelson (26) – all to Kookaburra Cup outfit Mudgeeraba Nerang.
Despite their exit, Swan said the growing experience of young leaders like captain Max Houlahan, Lewin Maladay and Matt Kuhnemann meant there would be no taking the foot off the pedal.
“I reckon that’s Premier Grade cricket Australia over now, with the whole youth push from 15 years,” the former Queensland quick said.
“You can be late 20s and be an older head in grade cricket, times have changed. Most of the older heads have gone out of the game.
“(The players) have already shown themselves to be talented as it is, with such a young group to have the outstanding results we had last year. Whilst they’re a young playing group, they’re definitely not inexperienced because a lot of these 20-yearolds might have played 50 or 60 first grade games already.
“That’s not inexperience, that’s just young, so they’ve got to continue to learn on the fly and that’s what we’ll be working together to do … continue to go from strength to strength.”
The Dolphins also overcame the mid-season sacking of first-year coach Jerry Cassell in November, with assistants Nathan Anson and Peter Ford sharing the workload in the top job for the remainder of the campaign. Swan said the effort from the players, as well as Anson and Ford, was testament to the club’s resilience.
“After that all went down (with Cassell), Nathan Anson and Peter Ford did exactly what any head coach would do. They rallied the boys together and got them playing a good brand of cricket all the way through the grades,” Swan said.
“We still had five players represent the next level last season (and) all the teams were competitive.”
Pre-season training begin next month.
WHILST THEY’RE A YOUNG PLAYING GROUP, THEY’RE DEFINITELY NOT INEXPERIENCED
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