South Wagga coach Ben Holt isn’t afraid of marching to the beat of his own drum.
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The 34-year-old was appointed to the top job at Warriors HQ just three months ago and the winds of change are already blowing across their Wagga Showgrounds stronghold.
While other clubs dip their toes in the recruitment pool, Holt’s South Wagga is shaping to be a more developmental affair.
“The off-season has been going really well for us, but in terms of finding new players, I’ve made a conscious decision not to go searching for anyone,” Holt said.
“Rather than trying to lure players from other teams, I want to be working with the guys that want to be part of South Wagga, the guys that have their own self motivation to come to our club and be a part of it.
“We’ve already got a strong core group of players who are loyal to the club and I’ve met a lot of them already, but I’m not looking to bring certain people here.”
We want to be the kind of team that can hang onto the ball and frustrate other sides.
- South Wagga coach Ben Holt
The Warriors were last season’s enigma after finishing ninth despite troubling the likes of Wagga United and eventual premiers Lake Albert throughout the year.
A series of fast starts saw them routinely lead their Pascoe Cup rivals before falling away in the second half and Holt is determined to see their stocks rise in 2019.
In his view, there’s a simple way to make that happen.
“I’ve decided want to play a highly-organised possession-based style,” Holt said.
“Teams get really frustrated when they don’t have possession of the ball and we want to be the kind of team that can hang onto the ball and frustrate other sides.
“I’m confident that we can play that style with the players we’ve got at the moment.”
Video analysis and direct communication between player and coaches will also be a key focus of Holt’s tenure with the former Wagga City Wanderer citing a need for “constant feedback”.
“The next step to becoming a better team is seeing where you’ve gone wrong and what you can improve on, so we’ll try to film games and focus on a theme that we want to work on,” he said.
“If we can do that, we’ll use that footage to try and improve a certain area, say for example our defence, and then we’ll film another game a few weeks later and see if we’ve improved.
“I think you need to give players as many opportunities for feedback as possible and I want our club to be a place where people improve.
“Besides having a positive and respectful team culture, player improvement is the one non-negotiable for me.”
South Wagga have already begun pencilling in their trial fixtures with Holt hopeful of confirming three pre-season games – one against southern neighbours Albury Hotspurs and a double header against West Griffith.
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