GLENROY coach Ross Terranova believes his club is better positioned now than it was 12 months ago.
The Roys are entering their second year as a Strathmore Community Bank Premier Division club after yielding four wins from 18 encounters in 2018.
Playing against some of the best sides local football has to offer meant 2018 was an educational experience for Terranova’s men.
“It was a great learning curve for me, for the players and the footy club about what you need to do to compete and be successful in Premier Division,” Terranova told essendondfl.com.au.
“We’re under no illusion about what we need to do.
“We’ve just got to make sure that we do all the basics right and that’s what the better clubs do.
“The good players and the good sides can hurt you in the space of five minutes and that’s where as a young group, it was a good experience for us to see where we need to be for this year.”
Glenroy had the leakiest defence of all Premier Division sides in 2018, conceding an average of 107.7 points per game.
While the departure of Matthew Willox will hurt, Glenroy’s back line has been bolstered by the likes of new arrivals Anthony Greaney and exciting key position prospect, Jonty Neaves.
Skipper and star defender Travis Dulic only managed to play nine games last season, but Terranova is confident he’ll have a full list at his disposal, barring injuries, for all 18 games in 2019.
“I think our defensive side needs to get a hell of a lot better and that’s been our main focus,” Terranova said.
“Our fitness is certainly another key area and players not going overseas would be handy, but you can only control what you can control.
“We don’t have any blokes who are going overseas this year, which is a bonus.
“We had nine blokes go overseas last year.”
With only two key departures to cover, Glenroy has done well to increase its depth over the summer, particularly through midfield.
More depth will allow Terranova to throw the magnets around a little bit more in 2019, which means we could see plenty of variation in personnel groupings across the field.
“I think our game style just has to be altered a little bit,” Terranova said.
“We’ve mixed it up where we’re going to play blokes in positions where teams won’t expect them to play.
“We’ve just addressed a few things where we need to get better from a defensive perspective and the way we deliver our ball inside our forward 50 area.”
When asked how many wins would be considered satisfactory for 2019, Terranova delivered a one-word response.
“Eight.”
RECRUITING
In: Anthony Greaney (defender/midfielder, Birchip Watchem), Kent Beaumont (forward, Reservoir), Jack Wallace (utility, Merrigum), Jack Sandric (midfielder, East Ringwood), Michael Di Martino (utility, Greenvale) & Jonty Neaves (ruck/key position, Eaglehawk)
Out: Matthew Willox (Learmonth) & Lachie Waite (Seymour)
2019 DRAW
