CQFC Energy Head Coach Ray Wood believes the club’s first year of National Premier Leagues football was not up to standard and is promising better returns both on and off the pitch in 2014.

Wood signed on with the Rockhampton-based Energy midway through last season and, despite admitting he was disappointed at the state of the club when he joined, believes the pieces are in place for a title tilt next year.

"We're not messing around, we're aiming for that top spot," Wood asserted boldly.

"I've told the club, I haven't come here to finish mid-table," Wood further explained. "People might say you finished second from bottom last year, so finishing maybe eigth or ninth would be a great result, but I'm not really here for that. I'm here to go on and win it."

Wood, who previously coached at English Championship side Leicester City, said his focus on recruitment and building a strong club ethos is already paying dividends as Energy prepare for next year’s campaign.

“I think in all fairness, the club’s in its second year, so another 12 months on and things are more organised and they’re more professional,” Wood explained.

“I’ve added some things to the club, the likes of the mini academy and the junior academy, but also the new CEO on board has given us a real forwards direction off the park as well.”

“I think a few people will be pleasantly surprised next season, not just on the park but some of the stuff off the park as well.”

On the pitch, Woods has recruited strategically in the off-season as he seeks to strengthen a side that was on the wrong end of several unflattering score lines in 2013.

“In an ideal world we would love to have the team filled with just Central Queensland players, but we got to be realistic,” Wood said.

Wood explained that success on the field created the groundwork for validating the junior club’s programmes and off-field initiatives, strengthening the club, and football in the Central Queensland region, as a whole.

“We all need to remember it’s a business now football, not just a sport,” he explained further.

“Firstly what we need to do is get wins on the pitch with the senior team, and once we get wins and get successful then we’ll start to bring in the major sponsors and the major support numbers and so on.”

Amongst his new recruits Wood singled out Jarred Lidy, who joined Energy from German club TSV Schott Mainz and has already netted a hat-trick in pre-season hit-outs against local clubs.

“He can play pretty much anywhere – in the middle of the park, out wide and up top, left and right foot.”

“He’s a typical German – very strong, big athlete and technically I would go so far as to saying technically the best player in the NPL next year, without a shadow of a doubt.”

Another recruit is experienced defender Tolu Koyode, who arrived in Rockhampton from the United Kingdom last week and Wood described as a “Colossus”.

“He’s a central defender, six foot three, big strong boy, very vocal and again technically very, very good.”

“He’s been in Germany for a couple of years playing at the top level, and also back in the UK.”

With the NPL Queensland Player Points System limiting the number of imports, Wood will now look to a raft of promising local players to fill out the rest of his squad.

Off the pitch, Wood explained Energy are actively seeking the support of the whole city and that involved engaging the local community at many levels.

“We’ve been a lot more proactive in the community and really just pushing that NPL brand out there because the surprising thing is that nobody really knew what the NPL was.

“That’s the thing that we’ve highlighted. When we’ve actually got it out locally into the local media, the press and the television, they’re actually quite shocked at the level of football we’re playing at and what we’re competing in.

“So it’s about getting the messages out about what we are as a club and what the NPL is and to try and grow that brand; the fact that we have that big potential in the next year or two possibly to draw an A-League team in the FFA Cup and things like that.

Amongst the range of new initiatives include a membership drive and a sponsor engagement workshop.

“We’re starting off our own CQFC Membership zone, where we are looking for members to come on board.

“We’ve also opened up a community sponsorship workshop which includes people who might be parents of children who are playing (for the club) or maybe just potential sponsors who want to come on board, whether they’re big or small sponsors.”

 

Words: Michael Flynn (Football Queensland)
Images: Keith Eigeland