Russells Creek captain-coach Cam Williams says the club is preparing to back in its depth and stay in premiership contention next season despite a strong contingent of flag heroes departing the club for rival teams.
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The Warrnambool and District Cricket Association division one power, who won flags in 2017-18, 2018-19, 2020-21, 2021-22, are preparing for a vastly new-look outfit next season with more than half of their champion team either departing or expected to in coming weeks.
Jimmy Elford (Northern Raiders), Joe Kenna (Merrivale), Shashan Silva (Allansford-Panmure), Shiwantha Kumara and Matt Petherick (Merrivale) are just some of the star names to have departed the club, with a number of others involved in the premiership dynasty expected to take up rival offers elsewhere.
Williams, who will remain at the helm next season, said while it was disappointing and "not ideal" to lose quality cricketers it was the nature of local sport.
"It's the hard part of being the best of the last few years, players get poached and when it rains, it storms sometimes," he said.
"Losing the amount of stars we have, you do have to take a little step back in away, these guys don't grow on trees.
"The guys that have left have taken on a second job, the good players get offers and that's just the nature of it.
"It's a feather in our cap in a way. We've been so good for so long that they are in that position. We take it as a compliment as a club that we've been targeted to be honest."
The star Creeker and Victorian Country player said he was committed to seeing the next wave of talent coming through the club get a chance at division one cricket.
"We have to reassess and have a look at what we've got coming through. We've got some great kids coming through our club," he said.
"We won't bottom out, we've just lost some star players. It is what it is. We won't stay stagnant, we'll move forward.
"Our coaching and training structure is so strong, and our one-one-one coaching is top-notch, that's our selling point."
The keeper-batter said the club made grand finals in division two and three last season so any suggestions they were headed down the table were premature.
"We've always had fantastic depth and this is now the chance for blokes who've busted their guts in division two to step up," he said.
"I've always said they would play div one at any other clubs and have had to work hard to earn their spot and I guess now they've got a chance.
"The quality of players are there and just need to stand up. I'm kind of excited to see guys play different roles and we'll probably roll with a new game plan which I've been thinking about a lot lately."
He said the club was always on the hunt for recruits and had some irons in the fire.
"We're always on the phone looking at ways to improve the club," he said.
"Again, it's not ideal to lose star players but we feel our culture and our coaching is a real selling point moving forward."
Nick Creely
Sports reporter with The Standard
Sports reporter with The Standard
