Return of the Hogs

Ins and Outs

Three of our players won’t be backing up this season: Adam (moving), Peter McLatchey (family commitments) and Perry (injuries). Please welcome Fergus Rourke, Graeme Phillipson and Anthony Ritter (who will be the baby of the team having not quite reached the big 3-5). Because we were stretched for numbers on a few occasions last season, we are looking for a 19th player this year and I’m still waiting to hear from a couple of candidates.
New gear

It will no doubt disappoint many of you to learn that our beloved season one highly flammable and intensely ugly playing jersey is (hopefully) going to be made redundant. The club has chipped in half the cost of a new kit as has our sponsor McAneny Lawyers at Woonona. The new strip, shown in the design stages here, is in the Thistle style black and yellow vertical stripes and will have our sponsors’ logo on the front. Hopefully the numbers will match the sizes we’ve requested – a list of your playing number follows at the end of this. Thanks must go to Shane Keating for “sponsor relations”.
Office politics

John and I met with Helensburgh committee members before Christmas with a few home truths on the agenda. They sounded us out with a view to splitting the Coastal Hogs in half to form, with the current third division side, two o35 teams (or three all up including the promoted Sweat Hogs). We argued strongly against this on the basis that we had formed a strong unit together and we appreciate their decision to allow us to continue intact. Another point of contention was our support of the club overall – in particular the fact that none of us attended the club’s presentation night. We have committed to support it this season, as long as it falls outside of the school holidays.
Meanwhile, John wrote a proposal to the governing body arguing that the 0ver 35 competition should not include underage players. They responded that they would continue allowing underage players in division 2 as part of their plan to increase the o35 competition to three divisions.
Training

The summer sevens season ends on Feb 11 so we will aim to kick off training on Feb 20 at 6.30pm at Jim Allen Oval, Wombarra. We are led to believe that we will be able to use the ground and lights again this season on Wednesday nights. We don’t have a season kickoff date yet. A reminder to those who aren’t already playing – there is a useful game every Sunday morning from 8.15am at Jim Allen Oval, all welcome.
Coaching

Shane and I completed the level 2 coaching license before Christmas and have some ideas to get more out of our training sessions. We’d like everyone to bring a ball to training – you don’t have to splash out, I got a couple of Patrick balls for $10 a pop at Sportsman’s Warehouse this week. Also, Gary Jordan and hopefully Perry, will spend some time as match day managers, looking after substitutions etc.
Rostering

We only had one match last season when we had more than the allowed 16. If it happens this season we will work on a roster system. I’m proposing that in cases where we have more than 16 wanting to play we choose those who miss out based on playing number. In week one the NEW players will be rostered out and after that we will work through the team based on playing number ie, week two numbers 2-3-4 might miss out and the week after 5-6 and 7 etc etc (we will skip ANY players who have missed out already for any reason until everyone has missed a game and it is their turn again). This system is for regular season only – in finals I think we should have a lottery system. Also, I think goalie Pete plays when goalie Pete can so is therefore unaffected by the roster.
3-2-1 voting

Because we’re expected to provide a player of the year for presentation night we’ll need some sort of voting system. If we do a weekly 3-2-1 it should be done by the majority of the team. The alternative is to just do a single 3-2-1 vote at the end of the season for your three players of the season. Please let me know which you prefer.
Fines

A suggestion has been made that we can raise funds towards an end of season party, donation to the junior club etc etc by having a fines system. Fines can be frivolous or serious – for own goals, yellow cards, diving, scoring instead of passing, etc etc and can be capped at $5 or $10 each a week. Again, let me know if you like or hate the idea. Anthony has some experience as a fines master and will no doubt relish this role.