The Moss Vale Dragon’s 2018 season fell short on a number of levels.
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Injuries plagued the team and left coaches scrambling to find numbers. With all the problems of 2018 behind the club, the dragons are looking toward a red hot 2019 season.
Photos: PCYC Kids fly around Mittagong
With coaching experiences with the NSW Cup, Ron Massey Cup and Sydney Shield, Coach Jeco Makatoa has been through the dark times and is looking to make season 2019 a bright one.
“When Steve Folkes passed away (previous coach of the Moss Vale Dragons), I had two weeks to get the squad together,” Makatoa said.
“I was bringing every Tom, Dick and Harry to just field a side.
“To be honest I didn’t feel we were going to field a side at all. I was begging for players to show up.
“This year, I’ve had a full year to bring players on-board, I’ve got mates helping out and I’m trying to build a strong side for Moss Vale. I’m confident that we will be a successful side.”
Last season, the dragons had problems within the team and Makatoa has made sure this season doesn’t have the same issues.
“I’ve signed 7-8 players that I know will buy into the culture, and I know for a fact hate losing. That’s what we didn’t have last year,” Makatoa said.
“We had players here for the wrong reasons, this year will be a whole different culture. I just want us to be a competitive side week in and week out.
“Last year, we had around five players that were worthy of being a first grade players. We did beat some good sides that were undefeated at the time, and that was with only five decent first graders.
“I’m confident we’ll be competitive this year. I now have 17 good first graders that will provide the goods for me. All I want is for us to be better than we were last year and give back to the fans and the club.”
The club had a wave of relief wash over them recently as last years captain, Brad Meuleman re-signed for the 2019 season.
Meuleman put any leaving rumors to rest and is happy with the off season decisions by the club.
“The positive recruitment process and the coaches direction is why I re-signed with the club,” Mueleman said.
“I want to build the club back up to where it should be.
“I’m as happy as I could be with the off season player signings. It would be nice to have had a few more of the local boys back, but I suppose there’s only so much the club can do to make that happen.
I want to lead the boys to something bigger and better this season
- Moss Vale Dragons Captain, Brad Meuleman
“I’m looking forward to a good pre-season, and hopefully we can gel well.
“I want to lead the boys to something bigger and better this season. I’ll definitely use last season as fuel for this season and I know that it won’t just be me, but the boys who are returning from last season will use it as well.
“We have a lot more depth within the club this season. We’re looking forward to our pre-season camp, we’ll bond and keep everyone fit and happy.
“I’m hoping to have a competitive side and we can make a dent in the competition.”