Chris Ayton and Kyle Harrison to coach Lake Albert again in 2022

Ayton and Kyle Harrison will again take the reins of Lake Albert in 2022, as they look to build on the foundation laid this year before the season was cancelled.

The Sharks sat in fourth position before the season was cancelled, having won eight of their 13 games, along with two draws.

Lake Albert will begin pre-season training at the end of January and Ayton is confident the Sharks can hit the ground running.

"I've been speaking to a few of the boys and we're not going to have that, in the pre-season, they're not going to have to do a whole lot of learning on that front," Ayton said.

"We spent a fair bit of pre-season drumming in what we wanted so by the time they actually got what we were putting down, the season was almost stopped by then.

"The last two or three games they were really starting to play good footy. The results weren't too bad, it was the chances created that was right up there.

"So they're just going to hit the floor running as soon as we get back to pre-season. They know exactly what we want from them so on that front it will be good."

Lake Albert expect only to lose the one player from their first grade squad. Levi Hughes has moved on due to employment.

His short time at Lake Albert was plagued by injury but the glimpses he showed was very good.

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"We'll only lose one, which is Levi out of the middle," he said.

"He had a couple of injuries in there and we really only got him back on the pitch for the last game and he was only playing at 60 per cent, trying to get his confidence back.

"We may lose a couple out of ressies, they may be stepping over to Wanderers, which is a good thing. It will be a good step for them if they make the final cut."

Ayton and Harrison have identified a couple of positions that could do with strengthening. The Sharks are in discussions with a couple of players they would like to add to their list.

"There are a few players that we're looking at. We've got a couple of holes to fill but as well as that we've got some young fellas coming through as well," Ayton said.

"We'll have a strong squad again. I think if we can get a couple of these players we're looking at, it will just fill a couple of holes we've got there and it will help us with a bit more depth.

"We had a bit of depth there last year but it was probably older depth. We're looking at bit more youth depth as well. We've got a good mix of young and old."

As far as the coaching partnership goes, Ayton is happy to be working alongside Harrison again. He believes there is too much to the role to be taking it on by yourself.

"Us two together, it works really well. We work at different ends of the pitch," he said.

"I wouldn't like to coach just as a single coach, I don't think it's possible. I've done it before and you need someone to bounce off all of the time.

"We've never had any issues with decision making. We grew up in the same area, playing the same footy on the coast so we've got the same mindset."

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