Nicholson led the Patties to a preliminary final last season and believes the club is in a position to challenge for honours again.

With Liam Scammell on board as co-coach and only Nick Flood (Western Australia) having departed, Nicholson's optimism looks justified.

"Last year was a good learning curve," he said.

"To have blokes around me like Matt Crawshaw and Neil Smith, who have done it before and have great cricketing minds, it was good to lean on them at certain times and I'll continue to do that.

"In cricket, gut feelings are a big part of it.

"For instance, if a bowler's starting to get taken-to or if you think you need to turn something.

"You can't plan for a lot of those things, it's just what you think at the time and you have to go with your gut and back yourself."

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St Patrick's finished second last season but lost the prelim to Lavington after collapsing to 60 all out.

"That was our worst day of the season but reflecting in the change rooms straight after, nine of those 12 players came through our junior ranks," Nicholson said.

"That shows where the club's going in terms of development and it's pretty exciting.

"Looking back on the season as a whole, we made the most runs (3249) and took the most wickets (159) so the ability is there.

"It's about being stronger when the chips are down.

"There's a lot of boys that are very keen to get back into it and make sure if we get to that position again, we don't finish the season like that.

"That's quite a driving force as to why we've kept so many people and why everyone's keen to come back and have another crack."

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