Pasanati’s plan aims high

By Jarrod Potter
NEW Keysborough coach Simon Pasanati thinks the Burras can play finals next season and has the plans to back up the ambition.
Pasanati, who came to Keysborough after coaching stints with Tooronga-Malvern and Donvale, said the task at hand was to re-unite the club after this year’s horror tenth place finish.
“I guess first things first are to unify the club,” Pasanati said. “There was a very negative mindset that was introduced into the club.
“They couldn’t get over the top of continuously losing so the whole place was spiralling downhill, so the first thing is to change that mindset.
“We’ve got to make sure that everyone is on the same page and break down the barriers between seniors and reserves.
“In saying that we’ve set our sights on playing finals this year – that’s the goal this year and we’ve set our targets pretty high.”
Hard work, a physical off-season and some smart recruiting are in the master plan at Rowley Allen Reserve.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us, but the guys are prepared to work hard and we’ve recruited well, so we’re looking to fill the hole of the void of good players who have left the club.”
With ins always come outs and Keysborough has two significant departures – Shaun Witherden and Will Gayfer.
“I think you’ll find there are two notable players who have left the club to go elsewhere – Shaun Witherden and Will Gayfer – they’re two very good players and it’s very hard to replace blokes of that calibre,” Pasanati said.
Keysborough recruited a group of ex-AFL and VFL players over the off-season, but Pasanati wouldn’t reveal their names just yet to the Star.
“Can’t let the cat out of the bag too early on that,” Pasanati said. “What happened was that in the past some of these boys had perhaps been pushed away.
“There was an association with them in the past, so we’ve reignited relationships with those players. We’ve also used our fairly broad contact base and brought some new faces into the club.We’ve brought in some young fellas and some kids and that’s the direction we’re taking to help bolster our leg speed.
“With the experience of the ex-AFL players, we’ve got a very good balance.”
Pre-season training starts on 28 November for the Burras.
“We’ve enlisted the services of the fitness advisor of Sandringham who is working with the Casey Scorpions so the boys will be working very hard over summer, so we’re lifting the bar as far as professionalism is concerned with the club,” Pasanati said.
“We’re very focused on our preparation both physically and mentally and hopefully we’re strong enough in both disciplines to meet the challenges of the season.”