Moody looks to top three

Centrals’ head coach Mark Moody has insisted the Mundijong side won’t just make up numbers in the Peel Football League this season.

The South Australian, who had a stint as caretaker of Peel Thunder last year, was adamant Centrals had the ability to challenge the league’s elite sides.

While admitting he did not watch a lot of PFL games last year, Moody was positive about securing a page.

“If I didn’t think it (the league) was any good I wouldn’t have applied and got involved with the role,” he said. “I want to play in the big ones, we’re not just going out there to make up the numbers.

“We’ve had a really good pre-season ... it would be a failure if we didn’t make the finals, it would be a failure if we didn’t at least get through to the third week.

“I’d like to think a top-three finish at the end of the minor round is what we’ll be pencilling in.”

Moody, who took on the Peel top job from Trevor Williams, revealed he left the WAFL cellar dwellers with no ill-feelings.

“I was kept informed with what was happening with the Peel job, but I was under no misconceptions with what was going to happen,” he said.

“They were looking for an experienced WAFL person and unfortunately for me, coming from South Australia, I didn’t have that experience.

“My 12 months at Peel, especially the last 10 weeks as coach, were fantastic, the experience I gained from that is going to be great for me going forward.

“But there are no sour grapes from me or anything and it was my choice to pursue other avenues.”

Moody, a veteran coach of 16 years in Adelaide, was confident his new-look Centrals outfit would have what it takes to pull off a few shocks. In order to achieve this, Moody said he identified a lack of “toughness”, both physically and mentally, in pre-season.

“I think there were times in games I saw last year where Centrals needed to be tougher, there’s times when they needed to be mentally tough,” he said.

“I’ve looked at their skills and I believe the increase in our skill level will be a big improvement on last season.

“You don’t coach in the amateur league for 10 years, and six years in the league system for six years, without being able to bring something to the table.”

He also tipped former Fremantle-listed player Ryan Murphy to be Centrals’ “surprise package”.

“Centrals didn’t have him for the whole season last year and we’ve got a couple of things up our sleeve to do with Ryan that not everyone will be expecting,” he said.