DOHERTY BRINGING BACK THE FUN

Albion coach James Doherty’s approach to pre-season this year has been to bring the fun back to footy.

Doherty, who was appointed as the Cats coach in 2019, said his mindset this season is to make football fun again and to create a club culture that is enjoyable for all involved.

“The past couple of years have been bad, we did lose players and Division 1 was unrelenting, so at the end of 2019 we went on a big recruitment drive and aimed to get some players who were juniors at the club previously, back involved,” he said.

“We want these players to be involved in a good environment.”

Doherty said their three practice matches have all gone well and he was now turning his attention to Round 1 of the Prestige Group Real Estate Division 2 Competition.

“We played the Caulfield Bears, that was a solid hit-out,” he said.

“We played Rockbank. That was a tough match, but we were able to run over the top of them and then we played Braybrook and that was a really even contest.

“We have a lot of new guys that have some talent, hopefully we are able to be more competitive.”

Doherty said he missed the comradeship of being around a footy club this year.

“It’s on thing to choose not to play footy anymore because you don’t want to, but it is a different feeling when it is forced upon you,” he said.

“Hopefully we can be competitive this season and play an enjoyable brand of footy that is fun to watch.”

Albion take on North Footscray at JR Parsons Reserve in Round 1 on April 10.