NEW Leeton coach Clint Halden is daring the Greens’ brigade of talented young players to dream big when they step up to first grade this season.
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The Greens made the Group 20 under 18 final last year, and many of those players will graduate to senior football in 2015.
Halden, who coached the Greens under 18 side last season, is confident some of them have the ability to slot straight into Leeton’s best 17.
“I’ve got my eye on a couple of young blokes to play first grade,” he said.
“I’ve said if they want to go somewhere with their footy, they need to stand out a bit.
“It’s up to them in the end, though
“You can put it there for them and if they want to take it they can.”
One player Halden has high hopes for is Josh Nikoro. The barnstorming prop developed a talent for steamrolling defences in the junior grades, and Halden sees no reason why Nikoro can’t develop into a similarly dominant player in Group 20 with time and experience.
“I’d like to see him play first grade most of the year,” Halden said of Nikoro.
“I’d like to see him go a bit further (than Group 20), so hopefully he can challenge himself and take those steps.”
“Challenge” could become a buzz word at Leeton’s pre-season training sessions as Halden attempts to turn the squad into a finals-calibre outfit.
Following Leeton’s sixth-place finish last year, Halden identified the Greens’ defence as needing an overhaul after they leaked an average of 36.9 points a game in 2014.
“Our defence needs to be a lot better this year,” Halden said.
“We did score a lot of points. If we can tighten up our defence and score as many as we did last year, we should win a few more games.”
Halden also said the Greens had to break their habit of not playing for the full 80 minutes.
“There were a lot of times last year when we’d get beaten in the last 15 minutes or so,” he said.
“It’s an 80-minute game, not a 65-minute game.
“We’ve got to start working hard for the full 80 minutes if we want to get somewhere.”