Kick across region
Country clubs on way up
BELL Post Hill has long been a modern GDFL force but senior success has not translated to its juniors ranks.
The Panthers have struggled with under-age groups in recent times, but are hoping the Lovely Banks development will give its underage numbers a boost.
According to property developer Riverlee, the township would house about 14,000 dwellings and 40,000 residents, allowing clubs to tap into a new market.
“Because Bell Post Hill is an older population, it’s going be a real influx for us as young families move in,” football director Tony Dosen said.
The club already runs clinics at Myers Reserve and visits nearby schools in an attempt to gain juniors.
Dosen said Bell Post Hill had good numbers up until under-15s level but struggled to retain players beyond that grade as it could not fill teams in higher divisions.
He said players would move to other clubs and not return.
“Let’s say we had a few of the boys go to Geelong West; well if they spend a year there they generally don’t come back,” he said.
“They find mates, they buddy up and you’re buggered.”
While the club would attempt to capitalise on new families moving to the area, nearby clubs North Shore, Corio, North Geelong and Bell Park would also be in the market.
Dosen said junior numbers had been vital to the club’s success, which resulted in seven premierships between 2010 and 2017.
“If you have a look at all our premiership success, most of our players are homegrown and some of these boys who played in premierships are still playing and they’re late 20s, early 30s,” he said.
“We haven’t got anyone coming up of our homegrown players. The last of them may be 21, 22.
“At Bell Post Hill, we’re probably an ageing population there, which is slowly changing now. But we need to build our Auskick numbers to 50 to 80 and get two under-9 teams.
“It’s just a long-term process.”
COUNTRY clubs are experiencing a lift in junior registrations because of housing developments.
Winchelsea and Inverleigh reported junior participation had accelerated in the bottom age groups; and Bannockburn said it had benefited in the top age groups.
Winchelsea president Daniel Greskie said the club had an under-9s side planned for this year before the season suspension, and Auskick numbers were also thriving.
The Green Estate in Winchelsea is forecast for 119 lots.
“In the younger age groups they’re starting to come to town,” Greskie said.
“We’re still a number of years away before we can start filtering them through to 15s, 17s, 19s then senior footy.”
He said healthy juniors numbers were vital to senior success.
“We can’t rely on recruiting people from Geelong all the time,” he said. “We still need a strong local base of Winch people. It’s our future — just like any country club.”
Bannockburn president Scott Penning said the new P-12 school had benefited the club, and netball numbers had also risen.
Penning said more families would help the club build on its culture and there would also be savings in the salary cap as homegrown players would be more inclined to stay for less.
“What we’ve identified, we see more of the high school kids coming out this way ... and an increase in participation as well,” he said.
“Under-15s and now the under-19s (football) is where we’ve seen the real benefit coming through.
“Hopefully those kids stay on and you see that flow on . . . and hopefully we’ve got the culture in place that these kids and the families love, and want to still be a part of (it).”
Inverleigh president David Haste estimated junior registrations in the lower age divisions had doubled in recent years, and it would also see a flow from the Tawarri Estate.
The Teesdale development has planning for 164 lots.
“What tends to happen is the kids get starry-eyed and they think, ‘I’ve got to get to Joeys or I’ve got to get to St Mary’s — I’ve got to test myself in town’,” Haste said.
“We do get a bleed out at that older ages, so it will be interesting to see how that pans out in the future.
“I would say (that with) the developments around Teesdale, Inverleigh, Bannockburn, our junior ranks have been bolstered.”