FORMER Seagull and dominant Hampden Football Netball League (HFNL) midfielder, Kaine Mercovich, has returned to his former club and will be the assistant coach for 2022, after a year interstate playing in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) for North Adelaide.

Mercovich started his football career playing Auskick in Port Fairy, he then made the move to Emmanuel Hawks for his juniors before taking up senior level duties at the Seagulls.

The 23-year-old was happy to be back home with keen ambitions to hit the track and put together a strong season aiding the young and developing side.

“It does feel nice to be home (and) around family and friends after not really seeing them last year due to the border closures,” he told The Spectator.

“(The) main reason was to try and find a property, I felt like this year suited best and then will hopefully leave me with options later on in life.”

Mercovich said he followed Port Fairy’s season last year while he was in Adelaide and helping them return to their former glory was a key motivator for him to come back and take on a coaching role.

Finishing at the bottom of the ladder in 2021 with a season record of 1-11, it was a baptism of fire for many of the younger players, but the club and Mercovich hoped to turn things around this year.

“(The move) also coincided with a little bit of a struggling season last year for Port Fairy,” he said.

When asked about the possibility of returning to a higher level in the future, the former North Adelaide midfielder said it was something he would “definitely” be interested in.

He played 10 games for North Adelaide at league level mixing his time between the midfield and forward line.

With an average of 14.3 disposals and a goal per game, he was a solid performer for the Roosters with his effective use of the ball a key strength.

“It was fantastic … the education that the coaches implemented meant that the ball was always in motion, and it was very quick,” Mercovich said.

“The coach was pretty understanding about my reasoning and hopefully the door stays open if I decided I would like to go back.”

After his experience at a high level and in a very professional environment last year, he brings back a wealth of knowledge to the club.

As assistant coach, he will be able to help the on-field leadership and boost the midfield structure.

“(I’m) very excited to work with Winis, he has a very creative mind and knows the game extremely well and hopefully I will be able to bring a few new ideas to the plate to help the team,” Mercovich said.

Senior coach, Winis Imbi was excited about the idea of having the 23-year-old running around in the midfield this season.

“We are really excited by him, he brings really good energy on the track and he’s a coach in the making, he’s got ideas and he’ll be taking real control of the midfield group,” Imbi said.

“He’s an on-field leader as well … we were pretty light on there (last year) not in terms of the players we had, but the rotations we could have through there.

“The boys have been training, we’re already a big way in front (of last year) at the moment.”

Imbi hoped that by the time round one rolled around, the boys would be fit and ready to go with some big inclusions from last years’ regular team.

“We feel as though we had a really unhealthy list last year for a variety of reasons, Matt Sully and James Duncan have been training again, they and Darcy Smith will be like new recruits,” he said.

Working on a game plan and roles and responsibilities of each individual were highlighted as the main areas of focus for the 2022 season.

“We’ve got a lot to work on, developing a game plan that the boys really know and also knowing their roles and responsibilities, unfortunately boys were turning up on a Saturday (last year) and just playing, you can’t do that at Hampden level, it’s a great competition,” Imbi said.

“That should hopefully get us sharing the load a bit, Matt Sully is going to take care of the forward line with a couple others, I can see him and a few of the other boys becoming really good senior coaches.”

The netballers have also welcomed back a familiar face in Emily Forrest, who will assist Renae Taylor in the Open netball division as a playing-assistant coach.

“’We’ve welcomed back a past premiership player, Emily Forrest is our assistant coach this year and having her on the court will be fantastic at the attacking end,” Taylor said.

“(She will) provide some leadership to the younger girls around her, she’s so loyal and it’s great to see her come back to the club.”

The netball pre-season training started on Tuesday and while the team has picked up Forrest, they are looking inside the club at the plethora of budding young talent to build from within.

“We will keep building on what we did last year, the main thing we are focussing on is getting the junior girls coming through who are showing a lot of promise,” Taylor said.

“We will be trying to fast track them and give them that exposure to the physicality and speed that they don’t get at a junior level.”

Despite not making finals last year, Taylor was confident that the inclusion of Forrest at the attacking end could be the missing piece to achieve team success.

“We’ve got a relatively young side … we were hindered by injuries last year, we lost our leaders pretty early in the year and the girls that had the most amounts of experience,” Taylor said.

“Conversion (is an area to work on), we had a lot of defensive pressure, but we found it a little bit difficult at times to convert.

“Bringing Emily in having that experience, she is tall, strong and a very accurate goalie, that will make the others a little bit more confident, and they will definitely lift.

“We will be combining with the boys once again (for pre-season), Winis is such a fantastic senior football coach to deal with and we will combine with them when we can.”