Rats are keeping it all in check
Leaders at Ararat Football Netball Club have earmarked unity and momentum as key proponents of their future success in Wimmera Football Netball League.
The senior football and netball sides finished 2021 in the lower half the ladder, among competitive midtable clubs.
President David Hosking said things got messy at the end of last year when COVID-19 pulled the rug from beneath them and the season ended earlier than expected.
However, he said he was confident a reshuffling of roles within the club and a continuation of a rebuilding approach started last year, would continue to build momentum for the senior sides 2022 seasons.
“We think we have advanced where our football and netball sides were in 2021,” he said.
“We all want to win premierships every year, but we started a bit of a rebuild last year and we want to consolidate that this season. 2022 is about building on that rebuild.”
Mr Hosking said he was also focusing on maintaining high participation rates of footballers and netballers within the club.
“That is a big thing for us, getting people into football and netball and maintaining good participation rates,” he said.
Netball director Celine Bush commended Mr Hosking’s stewardship of the club during recent years.
“Things are looking positive. We have a great club president with excellent vision,” she said.
Mrs Bush said the senior netball sides have had an injection of new players during the off-season.
“Change is good and the club is very united in where we are heading in 2022,” she said.
“We are seeing a bigger number of netballers involved than we have had for a few years. These new players are having a positive effect on the club.
“It is a great sign for the club that players from neighbouring clubs are choosing to play their netball with us.”
Mrs Bush said she was confident with some exciting junior talent possibly stepping into more senior roles in the netball sides, the new senior netball coaches had a lot to work with.
“Bec Skrabl will be coaching the A Grade side and Lauren Armstrong will be looking after our B Grade team,” she said.
“However, there will be a lot of collaboration in their roles, as we look to build a squad of senior netballers that will push each other and create a healthy competition for spots.”
Bianca Kettle will coach the C Grade side.
“Our aim is to make all our new players feel welcome and have them be a part of the club moving forward,” Mrs Bush said.
Senior football coach Matt Walder said internal goals and improvement were driving his side’s 2022 season.
“We are only worrying about what we are doing,” he said. “You hear things from outside the club and we can make comparisons all we like with our competition, but we are concentrating on us.
“Obviously our internal expectations were going to rise from this year to last year.
“We were bottom half of ladder in 2021 and just weren’t good enough.
“This year we are projecting a higher level of achievement than what we produced last year.”
Walder said being able to train has helped everyone this year and his side was preparing as best as they could.
“It is all systems go and we are making our way through our scheduled programs, getting everyone right for round one,” he said.
“Obviously the team’s drive has to start at the top, but it will be a combination of youth and experience and new recruits taking us forward.
“Our experienced personnel are helping preach that message.”
Walder said coaching management had a plan to attract experienced Ararat people back to the football club to help ‘thicken’ the squad.
“Liam Cavanagh will be joining us. He has been playing good metro footy in Melbourne but is from the area originally,” he said.
“Alan Batchelor is the same. He is from here but has spent some time in Ballarat recently.
“Other guys such as Ben Christodolou and Matt Hutchesson have come up from Melbourne to bolster our young side.”
Walder said in terms of his team’s image heading into the 2022 seasons, all the Rats footballers were concerned about was their actions on game day.