Harvey Calls For Pre-Season Pride
Words Michael Flynn
Image: Ray Gardner/Redlands United FC
Western Pride coach Graham Harvey has issued a pre-season rallying cry to his players as they return to training.
In an open letter published on the club’s official website and addressed to the playing group, Harvey made reference to the club’s development ethos before issuing a direct request to his team to consistently challenge themselves this season.
The PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland 2016 campaign will be Harvey’s first full season in charge of Pride after taking the reins from Karl Dodd midway through 2015.
Pride’s fourth competitive campaign sees the club looking to secure a first ever PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland Finals Series appearance as well as their first ever win in Westfield FFA Cup qualifying.
Pride has publicly confirmed four players for the upcoming season - Mitchell Bird, Joe Duckworth, Neilen Brown and 2015 captain Jesse Rigby - following the off-season departures of Bon Scott and Harrison Sawyer to Foxtel National Youth League squads and Ajdin Fetahagic to the Bosnian-Herzegovinian top tier Premijer Liga.
Referencing that trio's progression, Harvey stated that Pride's focus in 2016 remains firmly on developing younger players as part of the talented player pathway.
He stated, "As Senior Teams Head Coach I am very fortunate to have a General Manager and a Committee that fully endorse our youth development policy, which I can appreciate can’t be easy at times when there are other clubs looking to recruit players to solely win games and aid their own club’s goals."
"As a result, you as players must also understand and appreciate the faith shown in you and the environment we endeavour to create for your personal development."
"At Pride we believe we are the facilitators of the football pathway and it is our purpose to develop young players such as yourselves as best we can, to give you an opportunity for progression."
Harvey's statement further added, "I request two simple things from you as players: (1) Honesty in everything you do on and off the field. (2) Never accept the status quo, challenge yourself in every session to improve."
Pride's pre-season schedule will see them compete as one of seven PlayStation 4 NPL Queensland clubs in the BLK Silver Boot pre-season tournament in January hosted by Lions FC.
Graham Harvey’s full statement can be read at the official Western Pride FC website
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