The team was overran in multiple games last season and the new coach has put an emphasis on building a better endurance base going into the season.

Fisher has put the onus on the players to take that next step after a few years out of finals.

“I think the boys have really come together well, we have talked about Ararat for a few years that they are quite a young side but I think it is really time now they step up,” he said.

“These guys have got 40 or 50 games under their belts now, so they really have to own senior footy.”

Fisher has also put in place a program to improve the skills of the squad after the team struggled to retain possession at times last season.

He said it is hard to win a game if your skill are not up to standard.

“Skills have been a big area of improvement for us,” he said.

“We have not been the best skilled side and when you line up against the Warracknabeal and Horsham teams, they really hurt you on the rebound if you give them the footy.

“So I think we need to try and limit how many times we turn the ball over.

“We are not overly tall, so our strength has to be our running and ability to keep the footy.”

Are there any specific players you have singled out that need to step up?

In general as a club we all need to stand up, as a group collectively we are making some decent wholesale changes.

Are finals are on the radar going into the season?

Any side going around be silly not to say that, it certainly won’t be a win-loss ratio to gauge our improvement as a group. I think the outside world will do that and hopefully we can win enough games to play finals.

Can we expect any positional changes within the team?

I think so. I am a mad Richmond supporter, I like the way they play the small forward line. So we might try that a little bit and see how it works for us.