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It's how James Flaherty played his footy with distinction at VFL, WAFL, BFNL and GVFL level and he's bringing the same attributes to his first season in charge of Kangaroo Flat.
In the past the Roos have, at times, been guilty of getting ahead of themselves in the off-season.
High-priced recruits have inflated expectations inside the club, but ultimately the Roos have remained in the bottom half of the ladder.
Flaherty is not going to go down that path. No hype, no short-term predictions.
"All along I've said this is a clean slate for everyone and that's what it is,'' Flaherty said.
"It's a new coaching structure and we've got a lot of young players that are making the transformation from under-age footy to senior footy.
"It's a young group that's showing a lot of energy at training and numbers at pre-season training have been good.
"There's plenty of positives there."
Flaherty will develop several members of last year's under-18 premiership team in 2020.
While it's exciting for the club to have young talent coming through, Flaherty said it was important for the young players not to be weighed down or overawed by unrealistic expectations.
"No matter what anyone says it's a jump. To go from under-18 footy to senior footy is a whole new ball game,'' he said.
"The first few weeks were about trying to get used to what we want to do. Now we're starting to get to know each other better.
"The young boys are obviously more than capable, but it's now about setting standards of what's required and guiding them through."
Flaherty joins the Roos after coaching GVFL power Rochester for five years.
"With respect, Rochester and Kangaroo Flat are polar opposites,'' he said.
"Rochy had a group that played a lot of senior footy together and finals were expected year in, year out.
"At Kangaroo Flat I'm not changing too much in how I go about things...just those standards and expectations are a bit different at this stage."
The Roos leaked some big scores in 2019 and Flaherty's main focus in the pre-season is to tighten up how the Roos play rather than run them into the ground with fitness work.
"I'd rather get structure and game style right before fitness,'' Flaherty said.
"Obviously, there's fitness elements that comes with pre-season, but you can get fitness work in game simulation drills as well. The priority with this young group is making sure everyone is on the same page in the way we want to set up and play."
Off-season recruiting has been limited, but the Roos appear to have one major inclusion in experienced midfielder Mitch McKee.
A premiership winner with South Barwon in Geelong, McKee most recently earned best on ground honours for Lorne in the club's 2019 Colac and District Football League grand final triumph.
"Mitch has some family connections with the club. He is in his late 20s and he's a hard-nosed on-baller.
"As well as playing down Geelong way, he's played up in Queensland as well.
"You add Mitch to Liam Collins, Jono Lanyon and (ruckman) Nick Lang and we think our midfield group can get the job done."
The Roos will play practice matches against Shepparton Swans on March 21 and Echuca United on March 28.
They start their home and away campaign at home under lights on Good Friday against Golden Square.
Read more: Catch up on all the local footy news
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