After a season of consolidating, Caroline Springs George Cross is focused on success in the Victorian Premier League.
The Georgies finished seventh last season in their first season in the VPL1 competition after two straight promotions.
Finding some consistency in the back part of the season, Georgies coach Eric Vassiliadis said they were hoping to build on that.
“I think we learned a lot from the first season in the VPL1,” he said. “We had a slow start to the season before sorting things out in the back end of the season last year.
“It was a good indication and it was important for us to work and build on in the pre-season.”
Vassiliadis said the biggest improvement they needed was in the front third of the pitch after struggling to score at times.
He said they were confident in the group that they had up forward.
“We’ve worked hard as a playing group and coaching group and as individuals,” he said.
“We’ve attracted some new players and retained some others and hopefully have some success.”
Vassiliadis said they had retained about 12 players from last year, not wanting to make changes of the sake of making changes.
He said they were really happy with the squad.
“We’ve improved on areas that we lacked and we have built some genuine depth to cover injuries and suspensions.
“We’re making sure everyone is on their toes. We’ve got a good core group that has been together for a while.”
Among the new signings are Josh Whitley, who has been part of two championships. He was in the United Kingdom last season.
Vassiliadis said one of the most exciting things was that they’ve been able to add players from their youth league set up.
“We’ve added three guys from the youth league side who will play key roles in the squad,” he said.
“We have one eye on the changes with home grown players and pathways and we’ve been working hard with the technical director and junior coaches to have that pathway.”
The Georgies season gets underway on Saturday night against Langwarrin.
Vassiliadis said they were looking forward to getting the season underway.
He said they have some big expectations this season.
“We tried to consolidate last year and it was the first time we’ve done that as a club,” he said.
“We’d worked hard for five years.
“Our president Mark [Sultana] wants to play for promotion and we want to be doing that this year.”
