Struggling 'Gades can execute swift turnaround: Saker

New Melbourne Renegades coach David Saker believes his squad's predicament heading into KFC BBL|11 is far from as dire as consecutive wooden spoons might suggest.

Saker, who was today announced as Michael Klinger's replacement as head coach at the Melbourne club, takes on the role for a second time after finishing fifth in the 2015-16 summer.

And the 55-year-old has pointed to the unpredictable fluctuations of the format – which the Renegades themselves have experienced in recent years following their BBL|08 title – as one of several reasons he is unfazed by the club's disastrous past two summers, during which they have won just seven of 28 matches.

"I don't think we're coming from a long way back," Saker said today. "In Twenty20 cricket, you can turn it around quite quickly.

"You need to make sure your young players have some really clear plans on how to play and we can go a lot further into the competition than the last few years.

"Obviously, the team hasn't performed the way they could have … On paper, you look at Shaun Marsh, Aaron Finch and Sam Harper at the top, they're as good as any top three in the competition.

"So you'd hope you could base your batting team around that and we've got some really good young talent in (Jake) Fraser-McGurk and Mackenzie Harvey, so that's an exciting thing."

While acknowledging the promise of young allrounders Will Sutherland and Jack Prestwidge, Saker said an allrounder who can bat in the top six will be "high on the priority list" with regards to overseas signings, though with the unknowns surrounding both the pandemic and a potential draft, zeroing in on specific talent is presently a difficult task.

The former national fast-bowling coach also pointed to the bowling group as an area where improvements could be made via "a couple of good overseas players" to accompany pace ace Kane Richardson, given the unlikely access to Australia quick James Pattinson through much of the tournament.

And while Saker said he would this summer happily accept a BBL draft model that gives the previous season's last-placed team first pick, it isn't a system he generally agrees with.

"Right now I like that model – I don't actually agree with it, but right now it would obviously favour us," he smiled, before adding he hoped draft rules would also allow clubs to retain long-term overseas players.

"The thing I don't want to see if a player who's played for a long time at one club gets put in a draft and has to move on because someone else drafts them.

"I'm not sure of the rules and I've got no doubt you could have dibs on certain players, but for instance you don't want an icon player – say it's Alex Hales, who's been playing at the Thunder and looks like he's enjoying himself – ending up somewhere else.

"I don't think that's a great look, it's not great for the fan base."

Despite much discussion around the prospect of a BBL draft, no official announcement has been made by Cricket Australia as to whether one will be implemented ahead of BBL|11.