By Tara Murray
Woodend-Hesket it hoping to take the next step on field in the Riddell District Football League.
Having put in a mountain of work on and off field to get the club in a better position, the Hawks now want to see the results on field.
Hawks president Paul Podbury said the club was now in a good position and it was matter of getting the results.
He said they had been disappointed not to make finals this year.
“We haven’t made [senior] finals since 2009,” he said.
“It’s good challenge to get back into them. It’s taken a process, but it’s taken us longer than we thought it would.
“The club is growing off field and we want it to flow onto the senior group.”
Podbury said out going coach Tom Carland had done a lot of work on and off the field to help the club to put it in a good position going forward.
Players were returning to the club and it was a place that new players now wanted to play.
He said they had a lot of people in the right places and it was now about taking it to the next level, including recruiting to fill some voids.
“We have the core that will go around again next year,” he said.
“We were hoping to break into the six this year, but a couple of players who we signed pre-Christmas didn’t play.
“We lacked that bit of polish and our depth was found out against the top sides.
“We were competitive for three of the four quarters against the top sides.”
Podbury said one positive from the just finished season had been the ability to blood a number of under-19s in the second half of the season.
He said they were in a better position than they had been in the past to bring the kids through.
He said they would have about 10 players transition from under-19s into open age football next season.
“We’ve had strong under-19s for the last 10 years, but now we’ve got the leaders to be role models for them.
“We’ve got the likes of Marcus Stapleton, Alistair Rae and Michael Peart. They’re getting a lot of direction from the likes of those guys and others like Dan Toman.”
Podbury said they were still looking for a new coach.
He said they were open to anyone applying.
“We need someone to put their stamp on the group,” he said. “We need someone who can lead and help develop the playing list.
“We’ve got 10-12 players aging out of 19s and not quite senior footballers. We need to improve those guys and drive up standards.”
Anyone interested in coaching Woodend-Hesket can contact Andy Wilson on 0409 185 633 or andrew@supervised.com.au
