South Queensland Head Coach Will Fozard is out for redemption in this year’s representative clash against North Queensland.
After losing by six-points in last years match, South Queensland have added incentive to perform on the field and show that they are capable of changing the result.
After assisting Mitch Ferguson in 2014, Fozard has taken the coaching reigns in 2015, continuing the work he started with the team last year.
“It’s not one that comes along every day, so I’m looking forward to the challenge,” he said.
In preparation for this year’s carnival, Fozard has drawn from his experience working with Ferguson and has looked to his coaching style for pointers.
“Ferguson is a really good operator so I took a fair bit out of how he dealt with the boys,” Fozard said.
Coach Fozard is waiting patiently to see who will be fit to take to the field against North Queensland in their fight for victory.
“It’ll be interesting to see the playing group we end up with come next Wednesday at our final training session,” he said.
Coming from a representative footy background himself, Fozard is at an advantage in giving advice to the players.
“Being the second year of competition, some of the boys have come up against the other team before and have a good feel of where they should be playing,” he said.
“Previous experience will definitely help… a bit of knowledge of the other team from last year will help.”
The South Queensland team will utilise the fact that the majority of their team have played together previously.
On their narrow loss last year, Fozard said that they would be happy with any win, no matter how big.
“A win’s a win, any win would be nice after losing so closely last year… winning this year would be nice,” Fozard said.
Fozard not only continues to play for his club the Kenmore Bears but has also maintained an active coaching role for 13 years.
Having played for so many years, he felt the natural progression was to move into coaching but found that there were certain challenges involved in trying to separate his playing and coaching skills.
“The biggest challenge as a coach is being able to give control of the team to someone else during the game to actually make the moves,” he said.
The transition into coaching stemmed from Fozards passion to aid in the growth of younger players.
“Trying to develop people, to see people improve their skills and their game knowledge, and obviously reach their highest level,” is what prompted Fozard to get involved.
It is hard to pick which way the final score will tip, but South Queensland appear to be in good hands with Will Fozard.
By Sarah Lingard
