WARILLA coach Peter Hooper isn’t panicking about going into the 2015 Group 7 season without a number of his big names.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After back-to-back losses in Group 7 deciders, the Gorillas will be missing a host of regulars from recent seasons with the likes of Andrew Diomei, Jesse Dee, Keiran Rankmore, Craig Nolan and Luke Watts all departing.
“There’s probably six or seven from the grand final who won’t be there this year, so it might take a little while to mould a side,” he said
“Our focus this year will be on being there at the end, and that might mean a bit of more slow and steady start this year.”
Hooper said the club has looked within to fill those spots, rather than import players.
“We haven’t gone and chased anybody, we’ve had some good depth over the last few years and hopefully they can come through and show what they’ve got.
“Young Ben Cotter has been around the squad for a few years and I think he’s ready to step in and show what he can do.”
Hooper said he didn’t read too much into the 48-10 loss against round one oppenents Shellharbour in the Jarrod Morgan Shield pre-season clash.
“We treat this as a trial, don’t get me wrong, I’d have loved to have won, but we took in 14 fresh blokes and were missing a few regulars.
“We’re looking to round one against Shellharbour now and hopefully we can put in a strong showing.”
While the Gorillas have been one of the competition’s top sides over recent years, Hooper believes there a number of teams in who will be hard to beat this season.
“Shellharbour look like they’ll be pretty strong, Jamberoo have added a few blokes and Gerringong with blokes like Pat Cronin and Nathan Ford can’t be ignored and after last year Nowra-Bomaderry will be confident.”