Sport
13 June, 2025
Young grasshoppers thriving under Hendy
Navarre senior coach Kyle Hendy is no stranger to the club having coached in 2017 and 2018 before taking a break from football to run his Joinery business.
Hendy returned to football in 2022, playing seven games for Cavendish, before taking another break before returning last year to play three games for Navarre.
It was during those three games where Hendy liked what he saw, and with more time up his sleeve, decided to get back into coaching.
“Having those few games for the club last year, I saw the youth that was out there and saw the upside and potential I could see in some of the players and kids,” Hendy said.
“After seeing how much Luke Martin and the committee have put in the last couple of years made me see how good of a future the club has.”
When asked what he brought to the club this year, Hendy pointed out player management.
“Player management was a big thing and setting the expectations early in the season and giving players guidelines to follow has been a key,” Hendy said.
Navarre is currently sixth on the ladder with five wins and has a two-game buffer over seventh spot. This weekend they have the bye and Hendy has used the two-week break to readjust ahead of the second half of the season.
Navarre has played well in patches, and Hendy would like to see four-quarter performances moving forward.
“Our issue this season is that we haven’t been able to put four-quarters of consistent football together,” Hendy said.
“Against Lexton we managed three quarters, but I want to see a whole four-quarter effort.
“All 22 players are contributing the best they can or to their ability, and if we play four quarters to our game style, we know we will win plenty of games.”
“I am implementing more game sense training and trying to let them play on instinct and follow the game through, and give them more orientated drills,” Hendy said.
“If we can play the way we train, we can put four quarters together. It’s about executing it.”
The team is still relatively young with four players aged 30 years and over, and a few over 24, with the majority under 22 years of age.
Youngsters Bradley Carter, fresh out of the under-17s and Will Moloney, currently in the under-17s are just one of a few young players impressing Hendy.
“They played really good games against Avoca, and it will be good to see them follow on with confidence in the back half of the year,” Hendy said.
Navarre resumes their season against Carisbrook next Saturday, 21st June.