Swans coach in crackdown

By Marc McGowan
PLAYERS can no longer expect a free ride at the selection table at Casey-South Melbourne.
That is the message from Swans coach Mark Ridgway after the club’s latest humiliating defeat.
Fitzroy-Doncaster added to Casey-South Melbourne’s winless start to the summer with a thumping 126-run triumph over Premier Cricket’s cellar-dweller in the last round before Christmas.
Ridgway came out swinging after what he described as a “very disappointing” and “embarrassing” performance.
“There have been too many free rides in this club for too long in terms of selection,” he said.
“We need people to perform to be able to select them in the team we want to select them in.”
Ridgway also took aim at his star-studded bowling attack.
“Our Achilles’ heel has not been our batting this year. It hasn’t been great, but, as a club, we’ve made seven hundreds and St Kilda only has one,” he said.
“It comes down to our bowling and we have not taken enough wickets.
“We bowled horrendously (against Malvern). We bowled 17 wides and lacked any thought process.”
Teenager Jeff de Wet made his season debut for the Swans after being involved in a bitter tug-of-war between the club and Hawthorn-Monash University.
But his presence was not enough to spark Casey-South Melbourne’s attack as in-form Lions opener Gavin Kellar (84 runs off 122 balls, seven fours) and Brad Knowles (58 off 74, five fours) took the Swans to the sword.
A host of other solid batting contributions pushed Fitzroy-Doncaster’s tally to a commanding 7/245.
Matthew Hawking claimed three wickets for the Swans, but went for more than six runs an over.
Casey-South Melbourne’s run chase never really began.
Wickets fell regularly and the hit-or-miss Tim Dale (40 off 50, three fours and two sixes) was the only Swans bladesman to top 14 runs.
The Lions’ bowling display was laced with strong contributors, with Glenn Maxwell (4/33), Scott Huntley (3/22) and Ben Waterman (2/18) all prominent.
Damien Wright and Clive Rose will bolster Casey-South Melbourne’s line-up when they return for Saturday’s country round clash with Hawthorn-Monash University in Leongatha.
The one-day fixture is sure to involve fireworks due to the testy relationship between the clubs.
Former Swans president Graham Yallop sparked a mass player exchange in May when he became Monash University’s director of cricket.
But it was the Lukas Hoogenboom clearance saga that destroyed any chance of an amicable contest.
Ridgway has not backed down from a fight since taking charge of Casey-South Melbourne in April, but played down the showdown with the Hawks.
“It will be no different to any other game,” he said.
“What happened in the past is the past and we’re not going to go out there and carry on like pork chops.
“The opposition can do that, but we’ll just play cricket.”
And Ridgway left no doubt as to his intentions for the rest of the season.
“We want to win every game. We have five games to go and we want to win five games – starting with Hawthorn this week,” he said.
“We add Wright, who is probably the best bowler in Victoria at this stage, and with him, (Jayde) Herrick, (Ash) Perera and Rose, our attack should be good enough to restrict Hawthorn to a target we can chase.”