Epping coach Greg Whitcroft hopes last season’s grand final loss will drive his side in division 3 of the Northern Football League this year.
And after his first off-season as coach, Whitcroft is happy with what he has seen so far this year.
“We trained about eight times before Christmas and a couple of times this year,” he said last week.
“I’m hoping there’s no taking the foot off the pedal or thinking it will just happen.
“I hope the disappointment [of the grand final loss] is a driver for them. They will have natural improvement and I hope to help them develop further.”
Whitcroft said the club had re-signed all its playing list.
And, in a bonus for Epping, reigning league division 3 best and fairest winner Daniel Moore is staying after training with division 1 side Bundoora. “We thought we were losing Daniel but he has stayed and will now be a playing assistant coach,” Whitcroft said.
“He thinks he can still play at this level but doesn’t think his knee would be up to division1.
“He’ll do a lot of off-field training, like swimming and boxing.”
Moore seems likely to spend more time up forward as the Pingers look to address their lack of scoring.
He will be joined by Aaron Willitts, who has returned to the club.
“We’re looking for a lot more consistency,” Whitcroft said. “We didn’t score heavily and are hoping Daniel and Aaron can rectify that.
“Aaron played with West Preston Lakeside last season and came fourth in their best and fairest [kicking 32 goals].
“He’d been at Epping all his life before and he wanted to come back and play with his mates.
“He’s the fittest player at the club and a good competitor. He should be one of the better forwards in the division.”
Whitcroft said he was attracted to the job at the Pingers because he could see a bright future there.
“They’ve been a division 1 club and have fallen quite quickly,” he said of the club, which was in division 1 in 2013.
“I think they can get back up.”
Whitcroft said he believed his side would again be competitive.
“The division 1 experience is handy for the team,” he said.
“The first thing is to make finals and go from there.
“Epping’s best last season was really good, but the bad was really poor. We need to get consistency in our performances.”
