Preparing solid foundations
Leaders at Taylors Lake Football and Netball Club are confident 2022 will be a year of progress and consolidation, a foundation for them to build future success.
With a new president and senior netball coach, the club is hopeful a group of core young players coming through the ranks will help establish a strong culture for the years ahead.
Incoming president Travis Mackley said 2022 was all about being more competitive.
“For us, it is about being a harder club to beat. At the moment, we are trying to rebuild, nurture our young talent and recruit well,” he said.
“While we were cellar dwellers for a while, we think we can turn that around with a good, core group of junior players coming through.”
With the club’s senior netball side stepping back into A Grade, recently appointed senior coach Tammy Mcdonald said the group had started preparing for the expected tougher competition.
“We didn’t field an A Grade side last year, which we felt was a real opportunity for the team to capture that essential love of netball in a lower grade without A Grade losses every
week,” she said. “Our confidence has improved and now that same side, hopefully with the addition of some B Grade players from other clubs looking to help our rebuild, can step back into top tier competition.
“Hopefully we can get some success, but wins are not every part of that.
“Our junior program is quite successful and some are coming into the senior ranks, but we are always on the lookout for new players to come along.”
Lee Marshall will return as coach of the senior football team, while Tom Clugston will join him as playing assistant coach, joining from Dimboola Football Netball Club.
Marshall said the group was keen to have a full year of football without any COVID-19 interruptions.
“Last year we didn’t know whether we were coming or going at times, there were no crowds, no finals – we were a lot more competitive in games than we have been before, so hopefully we can build on that momentum,” he said.
“Our young players who have come up from the junior program are in their early 20s and have been here for a number of years now. But we are really pushing to have an under-17s side again because every club needs a solid junior side in that age group.”
With a core group of young players, Marshall said the focus would be on establishing defensive structures and consistent two-way running, a trait he said many young sides took time to master.
“We have brought a few players in to strengthen our defence, which is where we seemed to fall away at times last year,” he said.
“We couldn’t stem the flow of backto-back goals. Sometimes one or two forwards would get a hold of the backline and take the game away from us. Having options to run through the backline will help us there too.
“Two-way running will be crucial for us. We want to get that message to our group early because power-sides run both ways as second nature.
“Our overall aim will be to bridge that gap between us and the bigger clubs and get ourselves heading in the right direction in 2022.”