New coach confident of deep finals run for Redlegs after 'overhaul'

Entering the final season in the NTFA's current format, Brett Mansell has replaced Corry Goodluck in his new role, with the latter staying on as a player.

Mansell said the decision to take over for the Redlegs was an easy one.

"It's just the people and the fact that they just don't take anything for granted as a club," he said.

"It's a real small country club and the committee and off-field workers and leaders are just first rate, everyone is so supportive."

An assistant coach with Bracknell since COVID, Mansell is familiar with the current squad, an element he said has allowed him to attack next year with a clear idea of how they need to improve.

"At the end of the day, the challenge for me is to turn the squad that we pretty much have into a team that can challenge for the premiership," he said.

"Maybe I'm naive and maybe I'm looking at it through rose-coloured glasses, but I honestly think that we are not that far off."

That is not to say the Redlegs won't be adding any inclusions in the off-season, with Khai Lunson arriving from State League club Launceston alongside Oscar Mansell, who featured in this year's TSL grand final for North Launceston.

"We're pretty happy with where we're situated at the moment. We firmly believe that our improvement will come internally from the young players that we've already got and putting more work into those guys," Brett Mansell said.

"If we can improve our players individually and as a group by 20 to 30 per cent in all areas, we're going to see more wins and we're going to climb the ladder."

While those wearing the white and red might be broadly similar to their fifth-placed campaign this year, coach Mansell stressed that he will bring a "complete overhaul with the way we play".

"A lot of our pre-season, especially pre-Christmas work, we will be essentially going back to school. It won't be that physically taxing for the boys, it's going to be actually more mentally taxing to learn how to play the way we want to play," he said.

Bracknell finished the 2023 season in fifth place with eight wins and eight losses.