Ramsay joined Macleod in October after two successful years at Lower Plenty where he coached the Bears to the 2011 Division 2 premiership before keeping them afloat in their first season back in the top flight last season.
Speaking for the first time as Macleod coach, Ramsay said it was vital his playing list knew his game style and structures to a thorough degree by Round 1, particularly given the evenness of the Division 1 competition over recent years.
“With a new coach coming in it will be an overhaul of bringing my game style to the club,” Ramsay told NFL.org.au.
“I can’t wait until the middle of the season for them to learn that and I can’t leave it until the middle of the season to teach them the game plan.
“We need to know the game style by the practice matches and be ready by Round 1 because with the competition being so even you can’t afford to be starting too far back. You need early wins.”
Macleod lost its opening five games of the 2012 season and finished the year in eighth place, with six wins and a draw.
It was a step backwards from 2011 when the side finished seventh with eight victories, but Ramsay stressed there was plenty to like about Macleod’s playing group and pointed to a long injury list as one of the reasons for its slide down the ladder last season.
“It’s not as young a list with the bulk of the playing group now between 25 to 26-years-old. They’ve had three years in the first division so realistically most of the group is ready to peak or already peaking with their footy,” he said.
“My strength as a coach is probably working with young local players and Macleod fits that model beautifully with most of them coming up through Macleod juniors and having played together for quite a while now.
“After going through the number of games that some of the key players played last year, the club had a very tough run injury-wise. Quite a few of the key senior players missed quite a few games through injury.
“Within the list, if we can keep the key players on the park that should already provide improvement.”
Amongst those who missed extended periods of the 2012 season through injury were instrumental skipper Kane Shaw and ruckman Chris Long, while forward Cathal Corr managed just seven games because of Collingwood VFL commitments.
Ramsay said he expected the majority of the list to remain the same in 2013, although he did admit he would have to bolster forward stocks following Kyl Ewart’s departure to Heidelberg West as a playing-assistant to Derek Shaw. Uncertainty also remains over Nick Lynch’s future, while Corr will continue to be a week-by-week prospect depending on VFL duties.
It leaves a big void up forward for the Kangaroos with Lynch and Ewart their two leading goal kickers this season with 69 majors combined, meanwhile Corr’s output was also diminished this season, booting just eight goals after kicking 53 as a permanent forward in 2011.
The faith displayed in youngsters at Northcote Park during its premiership success showed clubs don’t have to spend outside their means to achieve success and Ramsay didn’t rule out blooding fresh faces to replace any departing players.
“I’ve learned a lot from the Northcote Park model,” he said.
“It was a good advertisement to a lot of clubs that picking good young kids and with good structures there is no reason why you can’t go in it each week to win.
“They did it beautifully and showed that a side could improve hugely with young kids.”
While the Cougars managed to win the 2012 premiership despite previously missing out on four successive finals series, Ramsay was reluctant to set such lofty expectations for Macleod.
“The goal is to get the best out of every player,” he said.
“The goal will be to head into every week believing we can win and where that takes us on the ladder will be decided by season’s end but I can’t see a reason why we shouldn’t be confident week in, week out of winning games.”
With a year’s Division 1 experience now under his belt, Ramsay is certain he is a better coach than this time 12 months ago and said he would go into this season with a much different approach than last.
“I’ll certainly be heading into next season with a lot more confidence knowing that the competition is even,” he said.
“Anyone can be beaten on their day, where maybe I overestimated the competition a tad or even underestimated my own list that I had at the time.
“That won’t happen again because I’ll be going in each week believing that we’re a real legitimate chance of winning each match.”
Ramsay replaces Cristian Brandt as head coach. In five years in charge at De Winton Park, Brandt guided Macleod to the 2009 Division 1 premiership and helped cement the club’s place in the top flight over the past three years.
