Wits to bury last season’s horrors
ON A ROLL: GAVIN HUNT’S MEN ARE LOOKING STRONG
Jonty Mark
Thabang Monare says there is extra drive in the Bidvest Wits squad this season, which has propelled them to set the early pace in the 2018/19 Absa Premiership.
Wits had a dreadful 2017/18 league campaign, coming in as reigning champions, only to find themselves battling relegation. But they have started this season like a team determined to turn that around. If Wits can beat SuperSport United tonight at Bidvest Stadium it will give them four wins out of four to start this campaign, and incredibly, it will give them more points than they managed in the whole of the first half of last season.
“I think we have a bunch of players willing to break their necks (for the team), to work hard, to listen to the coach. There is a lot of hunger in our squad, and that is the change – our willingness and our desire to win matches is out of this world, no matter how hard it gets,” said Clever Boys midfielder Monare, who joined Wits in 2016 so has experienced the high of the league title and the low of last season’s struggle.
Challenging for the league title has actually been the norm for Wits since Gavin Hunt took over as coach in 2013, with last season a horrible exception.
“We had a stunning pre-season, much better than last year. Last year you could see a problem, once a player and team loses that desire to win … we have tried to get players in with hunger that haven’t won and tried to build a team again,” said Hunt.
“The best teams in the world have four- or five-year cycles. In five years we won the league and finished third, third and second, that is unbelievable … we had a huge meltdown last season, we made brave decisions and let players go.
“We have only played three games this season … we must try to get to 30 points as quickly as possible.”