Two South West Football League teams have brought on new coaches ahead of the 2019 season.
Following an intense decision-making process, Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault announced the signing of John Baggetta as the club’s new league coach.
“The guy who’s going to be my assistant coach, Chris Kinninmont, wanted to get involved. He’s going to coach the colts and also be my assistant. We wanted to see what we could make of it,” he said.
“It’ll be a challenge. I’ve had a couple of years out of it. I didn’t think I would do it again, but never say never.
“Hopefully, we can get a good result somewhere along the line.”
HBL wrapped up its 2018 campaign in sixth, with eight wins and 10 losses.
“It is a very young group. The previous coach gave the young guys a lot of games, so they’re at a stage where they need to take another step up,” he said.
“We’ll identify our needs and go from there.
“We want to make it enjoyable and have some fun. If everyone is enjoying it, then the wins will come along.
“Some of the guys have been around long enough to know what it takes. If they’re having fun, they will be prepared to work a bit harder and the results will speak for themselves.”
Baggetta is no stranger to premiership success, having led Carey Park to victory in 2008 and 2009.
Ryan Macintyre will take up the mantle of reserves coach, replacing 2018 premiership-winning coach John Strano.
Kinninmont will serve as colts coach, while Tristan Maslin will lead the women’s side.
Craig Nicholls will coach Harvey Bulls’ league side in 2019.
Under Donnybrook coach Julian Burgess, Nicholls served as an assistant coach during the Dons’ 2018 premiership-winning season.
Nicholls hopes he can get the Bulls back on track.
“The team was probably a little bit disappointed in the way it panned out for them,” he said.
“We’ll go into a new season seeing if we can recruit some players. If we can’t, we’ll go with the best team we can put on the paddock.
“If you can control the centre of the ground, you’re miles ahead.
“We’ll also look at the playing group, and see where our strengths and weaknesses lie before going through a lot of game planning.”
Harvey Bulls claimed the wooden spoon last season.
Read more:
