Greg Garlick has been confirmed as the League Tag coach for the Cowra Magpies for the third consecutive year as they prepare for the 2025 Woodbridge Cup season.
Reflecting on his coaching journey, Garlick is considering future seasons based on family commitments and team dynamics.
Despite any uncertainties, he remains optimistic about the team's potential and the lessons learned from the previous season.
Garlick attributed last season's outcome to the team’s inexperience in high-pressure, sudden-death situations rather than any fundamental flaws.
"I don't think anything went wrong last season," he said.
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"We were two games from a grand final."
He emphasised that the girls, many of whom had not previously faced such intense playoff scenarios, may have struggled with managing their energy in the lead-up to the game.
“Maybe we spent a lot of energy before the game,” he said.
Looking ahead to the 2025 season, Garlick is confident that this experience will benefit the team.
“Because we've experienced it, it will be much better for the 2025 season,” he said.
He highlighted that discipline was not a significant issue last year, despite a controversial call in the final game.
“There was a controversial disciplinary call in the final game, which didn't go our way, unfortunately, but it doesn't reflect our discipline,” he said.
Instead, Garlick sees room for improvement in ball control and reducing unforced errors, which he identified as critical factors in the team's competitiveness moving forward.
“Ball control may have caused us a few issues, which is something we'll fix,” he said.
Garlick also stressed the importance of focusing on their own game, rather than being too concerned with their opponents.
“I think we should just focus on one game at a time and who we’re playing,” he said.
“That way we can just purely be focused on our own game.”
The upcoming season is promising, with key players expected to return and a surge of positive interest from the team.
“It’s a really good turnover from last year,” Garlick said.
“There’s a lot of interest early on with people actually confirming that, yes, they are playing…that really shows how positive last year was.”
Training for the 2025 season will begin soon, with a club day and individual team sessions scheduled before Christmas.
Garlick is determined to focus on the small but crucial improvements needed to enhance the team’s overall performance.
“If we can fix that one up and be more disciplined in that area, we’ll be extremely hard to beat,” he said.
“That’s what we’re going to focus on, just those little one percenters where we gave opportunities to other teams.”
With a clear focus on game-by-game improvements, discipline, and ball control, Garlick and the Magpies are gearing up for what promises to be another exciting season.
