In the lead-up to their season opener, The Queanbeyan Age sat down with new coach Kade Klemke to gauge his thoughts on the year ahead.

Q. First up Kade, how have you settled in at the Tigers?

A. Right from the start I’ve been welcomed here with open arms. The boys have trained hard for me and done everything I’ve asked of them so I’m really looking forward to the start of the season.

Q. This is your first coaching gig at NEAFL level. How has the role met your expectations?

A. Where I was coaching before [with Culcairn in the Hume Football League] I had to do everything, right through from sorting out the drinks and things like that. Here, there’s so much support around you and the level of professionalism is so much higher that I think it’s easier to coach here than at a country football club. The other side of it is that expectations are obviously a little bit higher as well.

Q. There are a lot of new faces at the club this season, yourself included. How have the offseason signings combined with the existing squad?

A. The great thing about this team is that any new players who come in are made to feel like they’ve been here forever. I think the recruits we’ve brought in are going to play a massive part in this team. A guy like Josh Bryce, with his leadership, he’s going to make a massive difference to our backline. Jarrod Atkinson obviously as well with his AFL experience is going to bring a lot so I’m pretty excited by the recruits we’ve picked up.

Q. Having had the squad together now for a few months, who are you excited about seeing in action this weekend?

A. Guys like James Kavanagh and Ryan Quade I think are going to have another great year. One guy who has really impressed me is Paul Franchi, I think he’s in for a good year. With the young guys, Steve Jolliffe and Alex Overs are going to move forward this season and Sam Jensen as well, he’s going to be even better than last year.

Q. Looking ahead, what are your expectations for the coming season?

A. Everyone’s dream is to win a premiership but our main goal this year is to make finals. That’s what I want the main focus of the squad to be on. With a top five this season I think we’re a really good chance.

Q. You knocked off Tuggeranong pretty comfortably in your last preseason trial, can Tigers fans expect a win this weekend?

A. I don’t think this game is going to be as easy as people might think. Tuggeranong finished above us last year and they’re still just as strong so we’ve got a bit of work ahead of us. They’re a passionate side and if you go out thinking things are going to be easy against any team in this competition you’ll get shown up.

Q. Finally, regardless of the result on the weekend, what do you want to see from the squad in round one?

A. A big key for us is our discipline. As a group I hope we can produce the things we’ve been talking about during preseason, things like setting up early and sticking to our handball patterns. If we can put into practice the things we’ve been working on around our movement of the football, I’ll be happy and we should win.