Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault league coach Ryan MacIntyre reflects on 2022 post-season and looks to 2023

A better pre-season and the closing of vital gaps in the team are the main goals for Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault’s league coach as they seek to rebuild in 2023.

Going into his second year in the position after winning three premierships coaching the club’s reserves side, Ryan MacIntyre will be tasked with trying to improve the team after a less than ideal 2022 season.

He admitted the team was disappointed with where they finished at the end of this year’s home-and-away season.

“We thought we could have won a couple more games here and there, but obviously our depth was probably the main issue and that is the main area we are sort of focusing on going into next season,” he said.

It was a year the HBL league team would rather forget in 2022, after years of making finals appearances.

The team did not win its first match of the season until round seven, when they managed to double the score of their cross-Shire rivals Harvey at home.

Players did show a potential turnaround in fortunes in the middle of the season with a win against Collie in round 10 and Eaton away the following week, alongside a draw against Carey Park in round nine.

However, their only other win would come in their second clash against wooden-spooner Collie Eagles in round 21.

Despite the tough season, there was a glimmer of hope for the future, with 10 players from the colts side getting the call up to play alongside senior league players.

“Heading forward, we are pretty confident those younger players can grow into senior footballers playing senior footy,” MacIntyre said.

It is those colts players like Josh Tartaglia, Pierce Ferguson and Jaxon Cuxson who are set to play a more prominent role in the league team going forward.

“None of them are going anywhere, which is a bonus, which means another full pre-season into those boys and wanting to play league footy,” MacIntyre said.

“I can see the majority of them pushing for selection.”

While the colts players will be the future of the club, MacIntyre will be looking at top-end talent to fill gaps within the league side, potentially looking to increase the number of league players from around 25 to 35.

“We are trying to push it up, so it creates pressure for spots in the side and it drives players to really want to come to training and to want to really work on their footy,” he said.

“If a young bloke is taking one of the senior blokes’ spot, it is going to push the senior player to push himself to keep his spot in the side and with that, it will probably make us a better side going forward.”

Going into preseason, the coach will be focusing on making sure his players are maintaining their fitness during summer.

There has already been some progress on that front, with senior players already starting their own running program.

MacIntyre will be focusing on making sure training is more athletic for the pre-season, expected to start in March.

“The players from as far as I can see, they have surprised me in the way of how much work they have been doing, which is good because I think they’re going to come to pre-season in pretty good order and they’re going to be ready to go,” he said.

Negotiations are still under way with potential recruits to the side.

MacIntyre has spoken to former HBL players who left the club when they relocated to Perth about potentially coming back, with about two to three players potentially set to make their SWFL return in 2023.

“They are good local talent, which is good for us because it saves you having to go spending money to buy a recruit to fill that position when you’ve got a bit of local talent driving back down from Perth for you,” he said.