Greater Northern Raiders: Wood 'absolutely loving' captaincy

Usual Greater Northern Raiders captain Miles Barnard took a back seat for the 2020-21 season due to soccer being pushed into cricket season amid the pandemic.

So far, however, Wood has embraced the position.

"I've absolutely loved it to this point," he said.

"I have never really done much captaincy stuff in the past so to step up and take on the reigns has been a great challenge.

"The squad is just oozing with young talented cricketers who want to learn and do the best for themselves and the program which is excellent."

The bowling all-rounder has steered the Raiders vessel through a challenging season, as the young side continues to build its young talent.

Raiders coach Tim Coyle said Wood had embraced the mantle so far.

"The Raiders program is his number one priority, he loves playing cricket at this level and those things are really important to us," he said.

"We need more Ollie Woods around."

Wood said his aim for 2021 was to inject consistency into his performance.

"As a team it's about continuing to build our culture and identity as a team and a club," he said.

"The next step for us as a group is grab hold of some of these chances to win so it'll be great to see if we can do that more regularly.

"In regard to challenges, it's more been about balancing the leadership with what I need to do as an individual.

"Other than that, I've been very lucky with the support of the other leaders in the squad such as Jono Chapman and Miles Barnard have guided and helped me heaps."

Temporary Carlton addition Evan Gulbis also aided in Wood's development.

"Evan has had a huge impact on me as a leader. He's cricket brain and knowledge of the game is second-to-none and his ability assess the situation of the game and how as a side we need to respond is exceptional," he said.

As for what the Raiders program meant to him, Wood said tackling a talent-heavy premier league competition head-on was what made the boys in orange special.

"I think the Raiders spirit is to embrace the challenges and to get into the contest," he said. "The Greater North has always been a proud sporting location so to have an opportunity to put it on the map to the southern part of state is what it's all about."