Lachlan Wilson led Huntly's goalkicking in 2023 snagging 48 majors from 16 games. Picture by Brendan McCarthy.

Three-time Golden Square premiership player Hamish Morcom has taken charge of Huntly for the 2024 HDFNL season.

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The seasoned veteran has been tasked with turning around the Hawks, who finished last season as wooden-spooners.

First time senior coach Hamish Morcom will lead Huntly for the 2024 HDFNL campaign.

Q&A WITH HUNTLY COACH HAMISH MORCOM:

WHO ARE YOUR NEW RECRUITS?

"We've brought Dale Lowry across from Golden Square, which adds a bit of experience to the group.

"He'll be going on 33 this year, but he's gotten himself into great shape.

"We also have a few guys who have come across from the Central Murray League, including Lake Boga pair Noah Sherlock and Byron Holt, who were both impressive in our first practice match.

"Joey Violi has come from Nyah-Nyah West United and looks primed for senior footy at the HDFNL level.

"A lot of depth has been added as well.

"I was looking at our transfer portal the other night, and about 17 open-age players are coming across, which will hopefully help us take some steps forward."

WHAT AREAS OF THE GROUND DID YOU IDENTIFY YOU NEEDED TO BEEF UP THROUGH RECRUITING?

"We were keen on getting a key back and inside midfielder in.

"Dale (Lowry) will fill that inside midfielder need, whereas the key back proved to be a bit trickier.

"We targeted a few people, but they were 50-50 with a couple of other clubs, and we fell on the wrong side of that.

"Hopefully, we can have a bit more of a successful season, and recruits can see that the team will be competitive every week."

WILL THIS BUILD YOUR PLANNING TAKE A COUPLE OF YEARS?

"I think it has to be.

"I've signed a one-year deal with the club, and if both parties are happy at the end of the season, there'll be an opportunity for me to extend.

"But that doesn't change my assessment, which is that it's probably going to need to be a two-year build.

"We suffered some pretty big losses last year, and we want to close those gaps between us and the best sides, which is hard to do within 12 months."

WHERE DO YOU HOPE TO SEE ON-FIELD IMPROVEMENT COME FROM?

"If we can negate teams kicking massive scores against us, that would be a big plus.

"I went through the stats, and we averaged having more than 20 goals kicked on us per game.

"The aim is to bring the average down to less than 100 to give us that opportunity to be in more matches."

WHAT STYLE OF FOOTY WILL YOU PLAY TO ACHIEVE THAT?

"First and foremost, we're looking to implement some form of press to keep the ball in our half of the ground more often.

"That will require all our players getting down to training and learning what's expected of them within that defensive structure.

"On the flip side, if we keep it in our forward half, hopefully, we can force a few turnovers and not allow the opposition to get over the back of our press."

HOW HAVE THE NUMBERS BEEN ON THE TRACK?

"Post-Christmas has been excellent.

"We went back in the middle of January, and we've averaged about 30 since then.

"The worst we had was around 25 and, at best, 40, so the buy-in from the players has been great.

"Those nights we've had 40, not everyone has trained due to a couple of blokes being on programs or having niggles from cricket and other such reasons.

"But for them to still be showing up, supporting the boys and learning what we're trying to do structurally has been awesome."

HAS ANYONE IMPRESSED YOU?

"Flynn Campbell didn't miss one of our 27 sessions in the leadup to our first practice match.

"His work ethic shows in the time trials, and overall, we've had some good improvement in times, particularly in our last two-kilometre time trial.

"Ben Daley has been great when he's here.

"He spent some time away from the footy club last season overseas, so if we can get a full season into those sorts of blokes who might have only played half a year in the past, that should help steer us forward."

HOW ARE YOU FINDING YOUR ROOKIE SENIOR COACHING YEAR SO FAR?

"I knew it would be a lot of work.

"I've been the head coach of an under-18 side, and even that was tricky balancing playing and coaching.

"It's similar at Huntly, but I'm fortunate to have Darby Walsh as an assistant coach.

"He has experience as head coach of Picola United, so I have good support around me, including our reserves coach, Jarrod Alford, who's been amazing all pre-season."