“I’ve really enjoyed my last two seasons at Corowa as coach, obviously coming back to the area after a few years away with cricket I was buzzing to get back home and get to work with the group,” he told The Free Press.
“I can’t comprehend how special the club is to me, the way the local community rallied behind us is second to none and something I’ve dearly missed.”
In his first year as coach – the first for Corowa in the Cricket Albury Wodonga Provincial competition – Hatton coached the club to finals, putting up gallant performances but went down in both matches.
The Roos missed the finals this season. Bowling and fielding performances were very good and consistent. But not the batting, which wasn’t helped with the loss of two key batsmen from last season.
Hatton rated season 2020/21 a great testament to the character of the club and playing group. “We obviously bought in Benny Mitchell who was an incredible influence on the group,” he said.
“Form wise he did really well with the ball and batting probably didn’t work out for him all that well, but you could see glimpses of how good he is. He has the ability to bring everyone up around him, someone you love to be in the trenches with.
“Second season coming off an interrupted footy season there was a lot of uncertainty on how the cricket season was going to run. Losing three or four core players from our first-grade side proved to be costly to our young group but with that it also presented a great opportunity to blood some games into our talented youngsters which ultimately is what it’s all about.
“With the borders reopening we were able to get big Arth (Arthur Godsal) over whom has been huge for us and can’t wait for him to return.
“Overall, I’m stoked to be back and I’d like to think I have made some kind of impact in shaping a successful path for the club going forward.”
Hatton believes Corowa’s bowling attack is the strongest in the CAW competition. “Losing Benny was a big loss with the slow bowling through the middle but for Luke Backhouse to step up Is a sign of his character and talent,” he said.
“Batting wise it’s no secret what we are missing, a top order bat is what we really need to steady us up. We have enough talent in the group, we just need that finesse to get us those bigger scores and enable our top order to bat with more freedom. We are in a lot better positions than most clubs in the league with what we have coming through the ranks in my opinion, the future is very exciting.”
Signing a top order bat and regaining Godsal will be huge for the Roos going deep into next season according to Hatton.
“Mark Athanitis will be joining us later in the first half of the season. I don’t think we will lose anyone, I’d be very surprised if we did. We all love each other’s company and surrounding ourselves with the community after a game. That’s what it’s all about!”
The inspirational bowling speedster and coach, whose parents reside in Rutherglen, concluded: “I absolutely love the club. It’s my home roots.
“The fact I’m able to come back and give back to the local community is massive to me. We have something very special at the cricket club and I can’t wait to see the success we deserve come going forward.”
Corowa Cricket Club President Paul Lavis said Hatton has “put in an enormous amount of time and effort, going over and above what we envisaged for the role”.
“He is leaving very big shoes to fill and we’re so glad he’s continuing his cricket with us,” the president said.
Roos’ captain Jarred Lane rates the outgoing coach highly. “From my perspective I think Hatts definitely has led the way with what it takes to be a good player at this level,” Lane said.
“I remember the first game last season against Lavington, a ball was going to the boundary and was four for all money and he sprinted around and dived full stretch to save it and kept it to two instead of four and it was like, OK, that’s the level we all need to get to.
“And he’s continued that right through, obviously with him committing to playing is huge as we can now bring someone new in to add to our group without losing anything we’ve established.”
Lane described as “pretty frustrating” missing finals this season. “We know our best was good enough but just didn’t make the runs we needed,” he said.
On the question of next season’s coach? “I’m more than happy for the club to look outside for a coach to bring in some fresh blood and continue to build on our playing group,” the well-respected captain responded.