News

Further to the call for captaincy nominations that was sent out on the weekend, the Goodwood Cricket Club Committee wish to provide a further update regarding the plans for next season. Following the completion of the 21/22 season, the Committee undertook a review of the on-field performances and leadership needs of the club and has identified several areas of change needed to support the players and the club achieve more on-field success.

The Committee has taken this opportunity to review the club’s vision and goals and continues to aspire to be recognised as the leading ATCA club both on and off the field. This vision will be supported by club goals to win an A1 premiership within the next 3 seasons and have the top 3 sides at the club competing in A1, A2 and A3. There will also be a concerted effort to further nurture the club junior program including creating formal structural/selection pathways for club juniors into senior cricket and to restore an appropriate selection and coaching tension necessary to balance superior performance and the ethos of community cricket to achieve the club’s vision and make the club a genuine destination for senior and junior players.

Another major finding was the need to adjust the role of the captains across the club, and build on their relationship with the club coach Tom Dawson. To ensure the focus is on player development and on-field improvement, the club has determined that it will identify a “High-Performance Squad”.  This squad, to be selected by the club coach, will consist of those players regarded by the club to be in contention to consistently play in the A, B and C grade teams.  Selection in this group will be dynamic and players can be added at the discretion of the coach.

Another element to improve performance was identified as selection policy.  The committee has determined that the selection of the A, B and C grade teams will be the responsibility of the club coach and the A grade captain.  Whilst this will represent a shift from previous selection policy it is designed to ensure consistency and enable the coach to properly manage the development of the players in these grades, including clarity of their roles on game day.

Selection of the lower grades will still follow the club’s existing selection policy and be managed by the Chairman of Selectors.

As outlined on the weekend, the club is now seeking expressions of interest from the current playing group for various captaincy roles across the club and grades, and asks that all expressions of interest are registered by the end of June to enable pre-season to be properly planned and player recruitment and retention strategies be acted upon.

The Committee has resolved a framework for the captains for the coming season in terms of their training and game days attitudes and the general expected player management tasks. These were outlined in the call for captaincy nominations.

Please note, existing captains are encouraged to apply and this decision by the Committee to throw up the roles, including the A grade, is by no means reflection of their past performance – this is simply an opportunity to identify all of the available options to undertake these critical leadership positions at the club.

The next step will be for all players to be invited to a meeting at the club in June where Tom will further outline the plans for next season as well as the plans for preseason.

Please feel free to direct any questions regarding the above statement to Club President, Warwick Potts (0407 611 217) and any questions or expressions of interest regarding captaincy roles next season to Club Coach, Tom Dawson (0401 527 190).