Decorated cricketer Tristan Dixon will coach East Ballarat next season as he returns to cricket in a full-time capacity.
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Dixon has represented Victoria at the Australian Cricket Country Championships and is a Wendouree premiership player.
However, swelling and soreness has followed his knee reconstruction of four years ago as it continues to trouble Dixon, who played just two first grade matches last year with the Hawks.
Dixon had previously played all his cricket with Wendouree before taking on an assistant coach role at East Ballarat last year. He is family friends with captain Josh Brown and worked with former Hawks skipper Brad Whittaker and admits he joined the club with the intention of “helping out here and there” but before he knew it his love for the game and competing had rekindled.
Dixon also confirmed, while his knee issue is ongoing, he is planning to play as many matches as possible.
“It wasn’t a conscious decision…you get a bit more involved every few weeks and before you know it you’re playing and training and doing that sort of stuff again,” Dixon said.
“I didn’t set out to be as involved, but I felt like I could contribute and help the club out.
“My intention is to play from the start of the year, obviously I’ve had some knee issues.”
Dixon, who replaces Bruno Davi as coach, was excited by East Ballarat’s prospects for next season, saying he saw some similarities in the young Hawks group to the dominant Wendouree side he was involved with.
Dixon said some of its strong performances in the latter stages of last year showed promise it was building towards what he hopes will be a successful period.
“I see some strong similarities.
“East have got a lot of young players coming through the ranks…and trying to develop a bit of a core around them, Wendouree have always been successful because they’ve kept that core group together and complemented the youth.
“They’ve obviously got the potential to play really good cricket, it’s just probably lacking a bit of maturity and consistency.”