Wayne Porter has taken over the coaching reins at the Berwick City Cougars and is hoping his youthful side can improve when the season begins this weekend.By Marc McGowan
BERWICK City Cougars Baseball Club starts its campaign at 3.30pm this Sunday when it faces three-time reigning premiers the Springvale Lions at Cyril Molyneux Reserve.
The Cougars have aspirations of breaking even in the win-loss column this season in the 18-round Baseball Victoria Division Three competition.
They won just six games in 2006-07, but have renewed vigour with the signing of veteran Wayne Porter as playing coach.
The second baseman is the only arrival at Berwick City, while Matthew Clements (Canada) and Jude Power (Australian Defence Force) have departed.
Former coach Brendan Robinson will play the first five games of 2007-08 before he relocates to Coffs Harbour.
Porter has coached Ormond-Glenhuntly for the past three years after spending 26 seasons with Moorabbin.
The Cranbourne resident also had a two-year stint in the now defunct national league during the 1990s, when he represented the Melbourne Monarchs and the Canberra Bushrangers.
Porter moved to the Cougars because they were closer to his home and he felt Ormond-Glenhuntly needed a more high-profile coach after winning promotion to Division Two.
“I was going to play with them, but I told them even before Christmas that if they got there they needed to get someone with a higher profile who had been in Division One or Two and would be more of a drawcard,” he said.
“Berwick suited me more because I’m more of a development coach, whereas at Ormond-Glenhuntly when guys are in Division One and Two they’re already there and doing it.
“Berwick has a great junior club grounding, but the club needs to give kids somewhere to go, so I’m trying to improve the whole outlook and be a bit more professional.”
And so far, Porter has received a positive response from the players.
“I expect people to be at training and have to train to earn a spot, where some of the players would just turn up on Sunday and have a game sometimes,” he said.
“From what I see, that’s how they want it to be (more professional). It’s just a matter of someone steering the ship.
“There wasn’t much in their training from what I’m told. I asked them when they normally do pre-season training and I was told they’d never really had it before.”
Berwick City is looking to continue to rely on youth this season, with Porter identifying pitcher/infielders Daniel Betreen and Mathew Kennedy, catcher Aaron Warner and infielder Jack Spears as players to watch.
“There are about six to 10 kids under 18 that I can do a bit with, so there are some really good kids,” Porter said.
“They’re the ones where the future lies.”
The Cougars’ biggest competition will come from Springvale, which is ineligible to ascend to a higher division because of a lack of teams below them at its club, and Port Melbourne, Preston and Williamstown will also field strong line-ups.
