Coach's Corner.

By John Want, 18th June 2009.

With the season Half way through, and with a six week lay off, I took the time to have a chat with Northstars coach, Neil Boyd, to get his thoughts on the season so far.

How has the season gone in general?

Obviously the results have been disappointing to this point, but I feel that the team has been a lot more competitive this year. Its frustrating because I feel that we’re so close to getting some good results, but we’ve shown a lot of improvement this year, so hopefully we can stay on an upward curve, learn something from each game, and take it from there.

Where have the team preformed well?

The most pleasing aspect of the team in the last few games is that we’ve started to hit reasonably well – we just need to take advantage of this and put together 4- or 5-man rallies, instead of just two or three. We’ve been fortunate in that we’ve gotten some talented new players this year, Gordon McNeill is going to be a third baseman for the future, Daniel Campos is showing great versatility, Jose Santos is going to be a solid run producer at 5, 6 or 7 and Jon Carter is going to be a big bat in the lineup when he gets healthy. Theres been a great improvement in a couple of players as well; notably Simon Doyle and Phil Crossey, who have come in this summer with a great deal of confidence, both in the field and at the plate, and hopefully that will translate to some selection problems for me.

Where does the team need to improve?

I don’t think any of the boys would say that theres an area where we don’t need to improve, and we’re still trying to break in some new players, trying to work on formulating some new partnerships. We’ve been having a ‘catcher by committee’ and I would much rather have one everyday catcher, but I appreciate how difficult the position is. We’ve also been missing a couple of players this year for various reasons. Garth Stewart and David McCullagh haven’t played much this year, and that’s a lot of speed to take out of the lineup. Declan Magee covers an awful lot of ground in the outfield as well. Aaron Larsen is a huge factor to lose both offensively and defensively. Stephen Van Houtens knowledge of the game is unsurpassed, and its always a big hole at the top of the order if hes not available. That said, it has been an excellent opportunity for the new boys to cut their teeth in the team and to get a feel for the Stars; hopefully it'll give us a deep squad for next year. Ideally Id like to get the B team back into the league, so that we can give the newer guys some consistent playing time.

Who has been the stand out player/s so far?

Gord Cuthbert has been pitching incredibly well, especially when we’ve travelled to Dublin. This was especially apparent in the double header against the Spartans and Mariners at the end of May in Dublin, when he pitched two complete games for us. He also pitched five fantastic innings against the Hurricanes in driving rain. Hes the heart of the batting order as well, and is always a threat on the bases. Conor Dawson and Andrew Downey have been the rocks of the team, playing anywhere Ive asked of them, and I cant really ask for more than that.

Sean Shackley has (yet again) been the backbone of the defence – there have been a couple of games that he has missed, and its always a noticeable difference in the infield when hes not there. He also hit the first home run at Henry Jones, so it’s a luxury having that sort of power in the order.

How do you see the rest of the season going?

In the games this year, we’ve done one or two things well in a game, and one or two things not so well. Im hoping we can get to a point where everything clicks - hitting, fielding, pitching, baserunning – and then we’ll have a much better idea of what the Northstars are capable of.