Star duo Rhys Irwin and Mitch Winter-Irving have been reappointed co-coaches of White Hills Cricket Club.
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Irwin and Winter-Irving led from the front on the field last summer, guiding the Demons to a semi-final berth where they lost to eventual premier Strathdale-Maristians.
"Mitch and I have played together for five or six years now and we know each other's styles well,'' Irwin said.
"We worked well together, we bounce off each other pretty well and we wanted to keep things consistent after playing in the finals last season.
"We think we've got the playing group moving in the right direction."
Winter-Irving had a brilliant season, making 650 runs and 16 wickets, while Irwin had a career-best season of 378 runs and 33 wickets. Both players were unanimous selections in the Bendigo Addy Team of the Year.
Irwin said he relished the leadership role with the Demons.
"I've been in it for four or five years now and I certainly enjoy it,'' he said.
"We've come from a fairly low position and we've worked really hard to get our training and coaching structure to where we want it.
"We're starting to see the fruits of our labour and we're keen to go even further next season."
To take another step forward next summer the Demons need to improve their batting depth. Winter-Irving, Irwin and Gavin Bowles (362 runs) were the only regular contributors with the willow.
"We've proven that our bowling is up to scratch in that we've been fairly consistent in that department for a few years now,'' Irwin said.
"Our batting in the longer format has been an issue for us. We need to bat for longer periods and improve the spread of contribution from the batting group.
"We know what we're going to get from the likes of Mitch and Gav. We need to challenge our middle-order to step up and bat for longer periods and get more runs on the board.
"That's going to be really important for us if we want to become regular finalists and push to play in that last game of the year.
"We've got a group of players that's played a fair chunk of A-grade cricket. Hopefully, we can now turn that into more consistent performances going forward, particularly with our batting."
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