New senior coach Zac Tisdale isn’t beating around the bush.
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He wants to improve on Daylesford’s strong 2017 Central Highlands Football League campaign.
And to do that, the Bulldogs must reach a preliminary final.
Tisdale and the Bulldogs, under former coach Marcus Goonan, finished eighth last year before defeating Waubra in the elimination final. The side then went awfully close to upsetting Buninyong a week later – leading by 20 points at three quarter time – but was eventually bundled out of the premiership race.
“I think we’ve got to aim to win a semi-final,” Tisdale told The Courier.
“We’ve been to two semis and last year we really pushed and probably should have won that.
“That’s the goal for now, try to get into a preliminary final. I know last year we had the opportunity to play (arch rivals) Hepburn in a prelim, which would have been massive.”
Tisdale has taken charge of a Daylesford side that has regained the services of past premiership coach Phil Davis.
Davis led the Bulldogs to a memorable grand final win over Waubra in 2007 to claim its first senior flag since 1961.
He isn’t heavily involved this year, but has returned to the club to assist Tisdale as a coaching mentor.
“The support from the club and all the committee and stuff has been such a huge helping hand,” Tisdale, a playing coach, said.
“And obviously having Phil there to just bounce ideas off is amazing.”
The Bulldogs will be without some of its top-end talent from 2017.
Gone is Cam Lovig, Cam Ralph and Pat Rowe, all players that had a big impact in the Bulldogs’ success.
Of the new faces, former Daylesford player Dylan Muscat is back and will add bite to the forward line.
The Bulldogs have a tough start to the new year with games against 2017 grand finalists Beaufort and Hepburn in the opening two rounds. A rematch against Waubra then awaits the side in round three.