THE Nor-West Jets have launched into full preparations for the 2008 Sydney AFL season after appointment of Richard Potts as non-playing coach.
Potts, who was the match day assistant coach this year, takes over from Peter Kyle, who spent two years at the helm, including a second division premiership in his first year in 2006. He will be joined with the clipboard by Greg Jenkins, who has been appointed as the Jets' new reserves coach, as well as taking on a fitness role at pre-season training, which kicked off four weeks ago and has already seen more than 40 players on the track. Kyle will remain as a player, as will Chris Kyle and Damien Shipley, who were the co-coaches of the reserves this year, with all making up a large part of the heart and soul of the club.
It is the first senior coach's role for Potts, although he has a long history with the club as a coach at junior level dating back 10 years.
He brings experience from playing with clubs across Australia, including Roeburn, Kalgoorlie and Kambalda in Western Australia, Port Augusta in South Australia and Katherine in the Northern Territory, and said he would waste no time lifting the Jets from their last place in 2007.
I hope to bring a little bit of level headedness to the team," he said.
We're just looking to get a little bit of a cultural change to attract some of the juniors and some more family members down to the club, and also a little better achievement on the footy field.
"Skill and fitness are probably the predominant factors that we need, Jenko and I have talked a bit over the past couple of weeks about things we need to fix to get some runs on the board.
"Last year we really lacked in things like stoppage clearances, centre bounces, throw ins, we had no strategy for them and it was just a matter of throw the ball up in the air and see what happens.
"So we will bring in a bit of simple strategy, nothing too complicated, but just so we know what we're going to do when those things happen."
Potts said he would look to foster the younger players in the club and develop them into senior footballers, but at the same time he won't push anyone who isn't ready. He said the weeks leading up to Christmas were about finding out exactly where the club was headed next year and what the players wanted to get out of their footy.
"It's probably a bit too early to tell what a realistic goal for next year is just yet," he said.
"There's things we want to do in the next couple of weeks to get some profiles put down so we understand what we've got in terms of players and their skill levels and work out what we want to do, what our game style going to be, what we're going to set as the team rules and what are the expectations of the players.
"As yet we don't really know whether the team wants to play social football or whether they want to have a serious crack at it, so there's not point setting any goals until we understand that."
Jenkins, who is from Adelaide and has also played in various leagues in Queensland, has been with the club for three years but missed the first half of 2007 while on a tour of duty in Iraq with the RAAF and said his main aim was to bring the playing group closer together.
"I'm here to work on not only just fitness but also a bit more togetherness, to try and get a better team spirit happening," he said.
"It's quite a good feeling that so many blokes have come down to training already, the boys are enjoying themselves as well as getting something out of it so all the signs are looking quite positive.
"I really missed my footy being in Iraq the first half of the year so when I came back it rolled off and I like being heard.
"The biggest thing I want to stress to the guys is to have some fun, and that's what Pottsy and I are trying to do, as well as wanting to win.
Last Modified on 25/11/2010 21:03
