After winning only five games across the last four seasons Epping has announced its new coach for the 2024 Northern Football League season.
Club great Brad Hollows will officially take on the head coaching role for the 2024 season.
Hollows has been the interim coach of the Pingers following the June departure of co-coaches Glen Lehner and Aaron Newport.
“It’s time to get back to the club I love to help out as much as I can,” Hollows said.
“I’ve been around the group for 12 months already, watching and helping out as much as I could.”
While wins haven’t been coming for the Pingers, their form has been on the rise in recent weeks, showing their improvement by staying in games for longer and trimming margins.
Hollows said he has recognised something within his group that he thinks can make them uber competitive within division 3 next season.
“I’ve seen something that this group’s got, they know how to play footy,” he said.
“It’s just trying to mould them into the right way of playing their brand, and they’ve proved in the back end of the season that they can mix it with the best.”
While recruiting is always a focus, Hollows said he has a good core of players to work with.
“Every year, there’s always players coming and going, my perspective and the club’s perspective is to try and keep 90, 95 per cent of the group,” he said.
“Then bring in some other people to help out and play a role for the club and the team and try to get the club back to where it was.
“I’m looking for a multi-skilled player who can play anywhere on the ground.
“[It’s now about] pre-season and getting fit, that was their biggest problem this year, we just couldn’t run out games.”
Heading down from division 2 for 2024 gives an opportunity to the Pingers to not only play finals but venture deep within them.
“We don’t take any division lightly, every division is going to have their good sides,” Hollows said.
“My perspective is, we want to win as many games as possible and play some good footy.
“Every club has a dream of winning a flag at the end of the year and that’s their goal and that’s our goal as well.”
Harper Sercombe
