A horror injury toll ended their hopes of adding to their lone Group Nine premiership, but new Brothers coach Peter Little is looking to ensure history doesn’t repeat.
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Little, halfback Cameron Breust, centre Isaac McKenzie all sat out as Brothers had their season ended by Gundagai in the preliminary final while Cade Price and Aaron Wynne had their finals preparations plagued.
As such Little work on ensuring the club has enough depth to cover any injuries.
“Injuries at the end of the season really hurt us but I don’t think we need to change a lot,” Little said.
“What we were doing worked. It was a bit of an eye opener for the club as we were having an unreal year to be honest.
“We played some scrappy footy at times but still found ways to win, but the biggest problem, and not just at our club but at all clubs, is your depth.
“We lost five blokes playing Southcity and that’s a big ask to have five blokes come up and try to step into those roles and be able to handle it.
“The biggest thing for us is to have more depth and more players within the club that can step up.”
Brothers have had big numbers at pre-season training with around 60 attending last week through all grades.
Little believes it’s a good start for the club.
There have been a number of new faces at training but Brothers are yet to confirm any personnel changes.
He’s looking to build on the big steps the club has made over the past two seasons with Terry Westblade at the helm.
“We’re on the way up and just have to keep growing,” Little said. “I think we’re getting there and one thing about our team is they are very young, playing first grade already and it is another year under their belts.”
The interchange rule will be cut from 10 to eight in 2019.
Little expects it will have a big impact on the competition and is looking forward to it.
“I think it is a great thing,” he said.
“With the eight subs it makes it a little bit more challenging as a coach as you’ve got to make sure you are using them properly and you’ve got to ask for bigger minutes out of some blokes who don’t play as many minutes, but I think you’ll see a lot more flowing footy.
“It gives those little guys a bit more of a chance in and around the ruck and it will open it up a bit more for a while there until everyone works out the best way to run your bench.”
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