Toyana ready to try tough love

A CRACK of the whip and some tough love is what Highveld Lions coach Geoffrey Toyana feels will change the team's fortunes in the upcoming season.

It will be Toyana's third at the helm of the Johannesburg-based side. The Soweto-born coach, who is SA's first black African provincial head honcho, tasted both the sweetness of success and the bitterness of failure in his first two seasons in charge.

Toyana had a dream start to his coaching career when ended a trophy drought in his first season the Lions and were arguably the best provincial side in the country.

Last season, however, the team was brought down to earth in a season the coach often described as a failure.

Now Toyana hopes to turn things around again in a new season that will start with a clash with Gauteng rivals the Titans in the eKasi Challenge, which this year will be staged at Dobsonville's Bramfischerville Oval on August 22.

"We've had those tough conversations," stressed Toyana, often described as one of the nicest coaches in the country.

"We were poor last year, we realise that. This year, hopefully we start off well and just do well throughout. We are definitely better than what we did last season. Everyone has bought into the new thinking. The biggest thing we are trying to push this year is character over cover drives.

"The biggest thing is team responsibility and team unity. We've got some new leaders as well ... I can't wait for the season to start."

In a team that has produced a number of Proteas players Toyana believes no player should expect to walk into the provincial side without proving themselves in what he says is a competitive squad.