MITCH Troy has wasted no time putting finals on the agenda after being unveiled as Newcomb coach.
Troy arrives at PlasterCom Oval after seven years in development and assistant coaching roles at South Barwon and is keen to end a 16-year finals drought for the Power in 2023.
Newcomb, which parted company with Jye Walker at the end of the season, won five games this year while also suffering four losses by 15 points or less.
“My expectations are high – it’s finals football now,” he said. “We’re going to get to work.
“And that’s the most exciting part; knowing it’s going to be hard work, but there is a reward at the end.”
“We’re thereabouts to compete, but we’ve now got to get the edge of winning.
“Win those games, you win 9-10 games, and you make finals.”
Troy, who also guided North Geelong to consecutive reserves premierships in 2013-14, is confident he has done a “great apprenticeship” at South Barwon.
While at McDonald Reserve, he coached the under-18s before graduating to an assistant coaching role under recently-departed senior coach Dave Farrell.
“I’ve been wanting to progress into a senior coaching role at some stage,” Troy said.
“The time’s right family-wise and personal-wise, and while I’m still young enough, I wanted to have a go.
“And I’ve had great support from South Barwon during my time there and going through the process with Newcomb.”
BFNL: SEAGULLS LAND SOUTH BARWON GUNS
Troy has forecast an attacking brand of football from Newcomb in 2023.
“You don’t win games of football without scoring,” he said.
“Watching some videos of the games they played last year, sometimes, they wanted to hold the footy up too much and not take the game on.
“Looking at the top-three sides, they’re that advanced, (and) we would really need to break games open to be able to win.
“It’ll be, ‘let’s take the game on, and if we make a mistake, we rectify and keep going and keep trying to score’.
Power president Matt Farrow believes Troy’s time at South Barwon will hold him in good stead.
“You can certainly see that he wants to be a career coach,” Farrow said.
“His passion to educate and develop and upskill such a young group that we have, I think it’s going to be a really important appointment for us.
“Having held that development role at South Barwon for a few years before taking on an assistant coach’s role, he’s exactly what we need.”
The appointment of Troy leaves Modewarre as the only BFNL club without a coach for 2023.
Twitter: @krockfootball
