By Gavin Staindl
ENDEAVOUR Hills coach John Hayes hopes the signing of a former international player and added depth to his side’s roster will turn around the Eagles’ run of average seasons.
Middlesex paceman and former England under-19 representative Danny Evans has signed on with the Victorian Sub-District team and bolsters a line-up sparkling with rejuvenated enthusiasm.
“Just look around and see the players we’ve got already,” Hayes said at Tuesday’s training session.
“We’re not superstars but we have got the depth which is the difference (compared with the last two years).”
For three consecutive years Endeavour Hills has finished in the bottom three and while Hayes knows he has no right to make overly ambitious statements, he is hopeful of being competitive. “I don’t want to be predicting something when we finished second last but with all the ins and no outs, we should be competitive,” Hayes said.
Along with Evans, the “ins” Hayes is talking about are the return of Richard Saniga from Cranbourne and Shane Peake who returns to Sydney Pargeter Reserve after a year in England.
“We should be driving for that sixth (finals) spot,” Hayes said. “Our attack is up there with the better attacks and we have more depth.
“I was listening to Geelong coach Chris Scott the other day and he said something about guys getting easy games builds bad culture. “It makes a lot of sense. We had a lot of guys who had easy games in the past due to lack of depth but all of a sudden we’ve filled those spots and guys won’t be getting easy games.
“The competition for spots is now there which will hopefully bring with it a winning culture.”
The Hills host Brighton for the season opener on Saturday.
