Bulls eye a bright future
THE rapid growth in juniors at Bannockburn has the club buoyant about its future even if coach Colin Orr has conceded the Bulls may not challenge for the GCA3 title this summer.
Bannockburn finished fifth in 2019-20 and a disappointing sixth last season.
The club’s last premiership coach, Orr was lured back to Bannockburn last season as an assistant alongside captaincoach James Hickleton, who has since departed the club.
Orr said he was blown away by the growth in juniors at the club since his last tenure there and the Bulls are only further expanding and set to field two female teams next season.
Bannockburn has more than 20 players on board for its inaugural women’s season, causing the club to double its plans and field a second side.
“We’re not looking to put our hands up to say we are going to win the flag or anything like that,” Orr said. “We want to build a foundation because our junior program is fantastic. You would not believe the amount of kids we have out here now.”
Aside from Hickleton, Orr said the club had held on to virtually all of its players from last season and had added Forrest wicketkeeper-batsman Travis Weber.
Weber belted more than 1000 runs for the Colac and District Cricket Association Division 2 side over the past two summers.
“He looks like he will fit in really well,” Orr said of Weber.
“He is a wicketkeeper-batsman, probably a top-three bat. He hits the ball really well.”
A series of junior players have returned to the club for the coming season and Orr said he was also keen to see what talented bowler Lachlan Bona could do. A serious knee injury led to Bona playing down the grades last year but he still claimed 14 wickets in the seconds and thirds.