Having finished seventh on the provincial ladder, they were dumped out in the first round of finals.

Wodonga won five straight either side of Christmas but faltered on the run home.

"Last year was a bit flattening," Hales admitted.

"We didn't fire at the right time of year.

"We had the team to do it but as far as performances go, we just weren't putting the scores on the board or taking wickets regularly enough to get the job done.

"We came in hot but tripped over and fell flat on our faces.

"You rely on your heavy hitters to do a job and unfortunately, they weren't in form and it was too much of an ask for the guys that don't regularly hit balls.

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"I don't think our bowling was too bad, we just couldn't post a competitive score and left them too much to do."

So how will the players respond?

"It all comes down to the individual," Hales said.

"I was confident that if we were firing at the right time of year, we'd have no trouble going all the way.

"To know there was still plenty in the tank at that time of year, I think a lot of guys might use that as a little bit of motivation this year.

"I'm not sure how Paul (Wilson) will tailor the club to finals but that's the end goal."

Powerful all-rounder Theo Valeri has decided to stay in Griffith but Matt King and Beau Kennedy have rejoined the club from Barnawartha-Chiltern.

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