The first Wagga City player to play 100 first grade games for the Cats has been installed as the club’s new captain.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Josh Thompson has taken over as skipper following the retirement of Warren Clunes.
The 24-year-old is looking forward to the opportunity.
“It is going to be a good year and I’m excited to try a few different things,” Thompson said.
“I get to have a big input into what happens and have a good person to learn off in Jono (Nicoll).
“It should be really good.
“(But) it is all going to be a learning curve as the last time I captained was in the under 16s.”
The Cats pulled off a remarkable finish to the season to take out the premiership following a poor start.
Written off at the Christmas break, Wagga City delivered in the back half of the half.
Thompson is hoping for a more consistent approach this time around.
“There is always pressure after winning the comp, everyone is going to be chasing us so we need to step up again and be ruthless in what we do,” he said.
“We can’t really afford to make many mistakes this year, we want to be competitive and don’t want to drop too many games but make our presence felt.”
Wagga City’s star allrounder, Jon Nicoll, has retained the coaching role.
He’s got full faith Thompson will step up to the mark.
“He will do a fantastic job,” Nicoll said. “It's a huge boost for the club as he’s come through the juniors.”
However he admitted the Clunes will be a loss to the club.
“It is obviously big shoes to fill and Warren did a great job and has been a leader at our club for a long time and it is difficult when you lose leaders at your cricket club, but it provides someone else to step up and that is Josh,” Nicoll said.
With Clunes out of the picture, Thompson is expected to do the wicketkeeping.
Dean Crane is also expected back at the club while Josh Thompson is excited to see what the club’s promising juniors can do.
“We have a lot of young kids and I am looking to be as enthusiastic as I can and try to get them playing apart of the game and really playing some good, confident cricket,” he said.
“I think I can take a big role in trying to get the kids to go a lot of the work this year.”
While the likes of Max Harper, Harry Rosengren, Mitch and Nick Cawley were part of their run to the premiership, Thompson expects more young talent to put their hands up.
“Tex Lindsay, who bowls pretty well, will probably get a better crack this year,” Thompson said.
“Everyone is pretty much the same, we’ve had some team meetings and everyone is pretty keen.
“We started training last Sunday and will just keep working towards that.”