Lara: We’ll cop the drop
Long-term goal is the top flight, says club chief
WINLESS Geelong Football League club Lara would be prepared to drop down a division in 2019 to shore up its long-term aspirations of being a top-flight club.
The Cats have had a tough GFL season, anchored to the bottom of the ladder with a percentage of just 22.99 after a number of thrashings.
But president Gerard Evans said off the field the club was the most stable it had been in a decade.
Still, the coming AFL Barwon restructure is putting heat on clubs at the bottom of every league to remain competitive to hold their positions.
Evans conceded that without on-field success the club would struggle to make progress. “If we don’t win games of football, how do you sustain all the other elements off-field?” Evans said.
“On-field contributes fairly significantly to sustainability, but first and foremost you have to have those foundation pillars in place to get that success right.
“I think financially we’re going to be in the best position we’ve been in for more than a decade. All of the criteria to play Division 1 (GFL) we’re achieving. That now needs to correlate in on-field growth and development, and that’s the hardest challenge now.”
AFL Barwon will cut the GFL from 12 teams to 10 in 2019, with the two worst performing teams to move down to the second division (BFL).
While confident Lara was on the right path, Evans said it would be a challenge to turn around the Cats’ on-field fortunes so quickly.
“I think next season is going to be a challenge, to be honest,” he said. “We’ve got to understand ourselves.
“We don’t want quick fixes as a club.
“Ideally our goal is to play Division 1, but if we play Division 1 at the cost of sustainability, well maybe we’ve just got to follow the path that allows us to be back there for the long-term future.”
In simple terms, Evans said the club would rather play second division footy in 2019 than simply try to stay up in the top league for the sake of it.
“If we have to (take a step back), yeah, absolutely,” he said. “The recipe is there around blooding and skilling your own players, and then introducing the experience and capability to support those boys, rather than trying to build a whole side around recruits and throwing some local boys around that to top it up.
“We’ll do our best to make it happen next year.
“But if we’re going to compromise sustainability for just surviving (in Division 1) for one year, then I don’t think that’s in the interest of anyone.”