New Cranbourne coach Brett McMaster is aiming to rebuild the club’s respect within the Casey Cardinia league. By Brad Kingsbury
CRANBOURNE has put its faith in loyal servant Brett McMaster to lift its flagging on-field fortunes after five years in the football wilderness as an ‘also ran’.
McMaster put forward a compelling case centring on rebuilding the club’s on-field fortunes using the talent already at the club when he applied for the coaching position vacated by Darren Martello at the end of last season.
But by selecting McMaster, the club made a commitment to pursuing a course of long-term success rather than a splash of money for short-term glory.
That was the option that the talented defender put forward and was accepted by the Eagles’ selection panel.
McMaster is not one to make outlandish statements and avoids the standard clichés about being on track for finals when he speaks about the club’s prospects.
“I said from the start that I wanted to coach the kids that were here,” he said. “I haven’t set any targets in terms of results, but we’re out to get some respect back. That’s the initial goal.”
“We want to be competitive and make our way back into this competition. The theme we are working on is to close the gap (to the top sides).”
McMaster is familiar with most of Cranbourne’s players, having co-coached the 2003 and 2004 under-18 premiership teams and believes that they are ready to take the next step.
“It’s not just a young side, but also a young club. Having said that, many of these players have been around for a few years now and played their 20 or 30 senior games, so an improvement is expected,” he said.
“We haven’t really added anybody of note as far as name recruits go and it’s up to the players to make their own names and earn respect with their own performances.”
McMaster acknowledged the importance of strong-marking full-forward Marc Holt and said that if his team built its game around him, a culture of success would develop this season and recruits would want to play for the club in future without having to be bribed.
McMaster’s off-field team includes chairman of selectors Paul Williams and match-day assistant Craig Sidebottom, but an on-field assistant is yet to be appointed.
