Richard Garcia has been impressed by his squad’s performance during the first week of pre-season training.
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The group began their preparations for the 2021/22 campaign on Monday, bolstered by new recruits Brandon O’Neill, Aaron Calver and Jack Clisby.
And the Head Coach was quick to praise both their attitude and application.
“The last week has been very good and very enjoyable,” he said.
“It’s been good to see the boys come back with smiles on their faces ready to go again.
“They’ve come back in really good shape physically and mentally, they have the bit between their teeth and everyone is out to improve.
“We’re stepping into a new direction this year and you can tell the guys have got that in their minds.
“It’s about us growing as a group and the processes we go through every day to become better as players, as a team and as people.
“That’s something that is a firm focus this year.”
Garcia went on to confirm that plenty of work is going on behind the scenes to secure additional new recruits.
“We’re very strong considering the small number [of players] that we have,” he said.
“We’ve acquired very good characters, very good players and now it’s about adding to that slowly, slowly.
“We want to make sure that we get the right people in for the right positions.
“However long that takes, it takes.
“We still need a few to bolster and round off the squad nicely.
“We’ve still got visa spots, so we’re looking overseas as well as domestically.
“It’s a matter of getting them into the country or trying to get them into the State at this point, so they are the challenges we’ve got to face.
“I’m very confident in the group of guys that we’ve got and we’ve also got the young guys coming through, so we have that to grow and develop as well.”
In terms of Diego Castro, meanwhile, Garcia also remains hopeful that the Spaniard could don the famous purple once again next term.
“We’re still in discussions with Diego,” he said.
“He’s currently in Queensland, so there’s no chance of him getting back.
“We want to keep him here as he’s a fantastic player and person.”
#OneGlory
