Casey-South Melbourne president Graham Yallop, left, and Freeway Ford managing director Derek West, right, congratulate new head coach Mark Ridgway on his appointment.By Marc McGowan
INEPTITUDE will no longer be accepted at Casey-South Melbourne, according to new head coach Mark Ridgway.
Ridgway, 47, is a former Tasmanian state representative and achieved ultimate success with St Kilda as the Saints’ head coach over the last three seasons.
He replaces John Hayes, ending the latter’s one-year tenure in the role.
The appointment is already reaping benefits for the Swans, with St Kilda’s star all-rounder Jayde Herrick switching camps to join his coach at Casey Fields.
Herrick is from Pakenham and is in the process of relocating to Cranbourne.
The 23-year-old represented Victoria at second XI level last season and Warragul-raised Ridgway has already earmarked him as Lukas Hoogenboom’s new-ball partner.
Casey-South Melbourne is also set to announce a key interstate signing in the next week.
Ridgway, who captured almost 200 wickets with his fast-medium bowling in 46 first-class matches and 23 one-day games, is looking forward to the challenge.
“It should be good fun and I’m very happy to be on board,” he said.
“If you have a look at my coaching record, it’s not too bad, and having played a lot of first-class cricket and won a Ryder Medal, I know the benefits of Victorian Premier Cricket.”
Ridgway will begin the position straight away and plans on stamping out the mediocrity that has plagued the Swans in recent seasons.
“We need to get immediate improvement into the players, so they can become really competitive,” he said.
“At times last year, the performances were not acceptable and we need to delete those as much as we possibly can.
“Once we learn to win, the game becomes easy.”
Casey-South Melbourne president Graham Yallop explained that Ridgway’s experience was a major factor in his appointment.
“We want to make sure we continue to develop the youngsters we have at the club and encourage more and more quality players to Premier Cricket,” Yallop said.
“We’re looking forward to some younger players in the next year or so stepping up and we believe Mark Ridgway can help them do that.”
Outgoing head coach Hayes is philosophical about the decision and has quickly been snapped up as an assistant coach at rival Victorian Premier Cricket club Dandenong.
“It probably wasn’t the ideal process, but I’ve got over it a bit now,” he said.
“I was pretty annoyed and disappointed at the time, but at the end of the day there were some people within the club that wanted to go with a more high-profile coach and that’s fair enough.
“It was a tough year, there’s no doubt about that, but I enjoyed the challenge and it wouldn’t have mattered who was coaching at the time – it would have been a tough job no matter what.”
One of Ridgway’s top priorities is improving the Swans’ relationship with local clubs.
“We need to sell the benefits of Casey-South Melbourne to the whole community,” he said.
“The big problem is that a lot of local clubs are scared of losing talent into Premier Cricket ranks.
“We understand their reluctance to let good kids go, but all they’re doing is hindering someone’s potential career and that message needs to be sold to them so they understand.”
