SHEPPARTON UNITED
After a turbulent off-season filled with dramatic turnover on and off the field, 2022 serves as an opportunity for Shepparton United to reset as it embarks on a full-blown rebuild.
Finishing ninth after registering four wins in 2021, the Demons have seen the likes of Brock McLean, Jhett Cooper, Dwain Vidler, Fitzroy Greenwol, Tyler Pedretti and Matthew Rendina walk out the door, paving the way for some up-and-coming youngsters to take the next step.
Former Tatura coach and last year’s senior assistant Paul Serra steps up to take the top job in 2022, tasked with rebuilding this proud club from the bottom up.
Sporting an incredibly young list of largely unproven players at Goulburn Valley League level, Serra said the group had attacked training hard during the pre-season.
“It has been pretty solid, we have been putting the hard yards in and it has been everything I have expected it to be,” Serra said.
“I think our fitness will definitely hold up and we are doing a lot of work on that, the guys have been really determined on the track and committed to getting better.”
While many will focus on the long list of outs, United has been busy trying to attract young talent,with the likes of hard-nosed midfielder Mitch Booth, talented utility Jared Service and imposing key forward Mitch Oliver set to be vital additions to the Demons.
They join an exciting core of returning players that include reigning best-and-fairest winner Kyle Clarke, up-and-coming star Ryan Wenske and the ultrareliable Kaedyn Napier.
Serra said he would be looking to bring his own fresh game plan to the table as he hoped to see growth out of his young list.
“I just go with my style, that is how I will look to attack it, we had a certain game plan last year and I will just add my spin onto things, at the end of the day footy is a pretty simple game and we will just look to bring that effort and intensity,” he said.
“We have a very young list, so I probably expect we will get a lot of growth out of our players as a number of guys step up to bigger roles, obviously it is a good standard of footy the GVL, so just by having that experience I think we will see a lot of improvement.”
Rebuilding a list is something that does take time, however, which is something he certainly understands as the club tries to get the right people in place to build a culture of sustained success.
“Obviously we have a young group, and we know how challenging that is going to be, but it is something we look forward to and hope to have fun with,” he said.
“There will be teams that are difficult and times that are easy, but we are really concentrating on what we can bring to each individual game and not looking much further ahead than that.
“It is definitely a transition period for us where we just need to get things rolling along and give our young guys a chance to prove themselves at senior level.”