Hart searching for improvement
New defensive coach Ben Hart spoke to collingwoodfc.com.au about his aims to improve the team’s backline in 2012.
That’s the task former Adelaide star Ben Hart faces in his first season as an assistant coach at Collingwood.
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Hart, 37, spent the past three years as an assistant to Neil Craig with the Crows after retiring from the game in 2006 with 311 games to his name.
He has taken over the reins of the backline from new St Kilda coach Scott Watters, and says that having such an experienced defensive group is the perfect foundation on which to build.
“There probably won’t be too many changes. There will be a few little things but nothing major,” Hart told collingwoodfc.com.au after training on Friday.
“I think having guys like Nick Maxwell, Heath Shaw, Harry O’Brien, Chris Tarrant and Ben Johnson, guys who played a lot of footy together and a lot in defence down there means there won’t be a lot of changes.”
“There are little bits about how we can defend even better and also when we get the footy how we can move it so they’re the things that we’ll try and look at but we’re pretty set and it’s a pretty good defence as it is.”
Hart’s task will be made easier when premiership full back Nathan Brown returns from his 12-month layoff following a knee reconstruction.
Easier in the sense that he will regain the services one of the club’s brightest prospects. But Brown’s return may prompt questions as to whether or not the match committee can squeeze him in alongside incumbents Chris Tarrant and Ben Reid.
“I think there’s a position for him. There is a spot for those three guys,” Hart believes.
“I think what’s good about all those guys is that they’re all quite quick. Even if you need those three talls, they can play on different types of blokes so there’s definitely a spot and hopefully we can find it.”
“As far as he (Brown) is going, after a pretty bad injury, I think he’s coming along really well. The week before Christmas was pretty slow but that was expected and now he’s getting into some footy stuff and he’s getting himself reasonably fit at the moment so hopefully he’ll be ready to go by round one, if not a little bit after.”
In his guise as an Adelaide assistant, Hart watched the 2011 Grand Final objectively. He notes the need to ensure his Collingwood backmen are flexible should injury to an opposition forward disrupt the team’s structure as occurred when Geelong’s James Podsiadly suffered a dislocated shoulder on Grand Final day, catapulting Tom Hawkins into a starring role.
“For me, watching from an outsider’s point of view, I think it was the flexibility and our ability to play on different types of players. It threw our structure out, as such, so we need to be better as a backline to be able play on different types of players.”
“Yes, you’re going to be suited to talls, smalls and the like but if we can have some flexibility with guys like O’Brien, Shaw and even Maxwell to be able to play on taller guys and smaller guys then that’ll help. So that’s something we’ll work on and hopefully get a lot of guys who can do it.”
Importantly, the playing group still possesses the passion and motivation to improve.
“The fire’s still burning in the bellies, and they’re never nice days when you lose them. But to be able to bounce back is the key and what you do from then on,
“If you worry too much about it, you can get distracted so now it’s a matter of ‘bounce back, understand what you could have improved on and put those steps in place’, and the way they’ve attacked training so far, you’d say the hunger’s still there.”
“The games come around really quickly because in middle to late February we’re playing so in the next couple of weeks we’ll do a bit of match simulation on the training track. This is the exciting part - it’s what they all want to get into. We’ve got a few little changes that we’re working on and they’re certainly responding well”.
The other challenge Hart’s facing is the move from Adelaide, where he has spent all 37 years of his life. Fortunately, he is glowing when prompted on his short time in Melbourne.
“I’m loving the move,” Hart grins.
“My family came over on the fifth of January and we’ve found a place in Melbourne that’s fantastic. Everyone’s been really good at the club in helping us move and provide us with what we need - players, coaches, the whole staff - and now the family are settled.
“It’s been a really smooth transition and I’m really looking forward to getting into game time.
You sense his players share a similar feeling.