Tara Murray
Youth is driving Melton forward in the Hockey Victoria men’s Vic League 3 competition.
The Mustangs sit in third position heading into the back end of the season, having had some good results against the teams above them.
Mustangs winger Lachlan Vallance said they were sitting about where they expected to heading into the season.
“It’s been pretty good, but we’ve been a little inconsistent,” he said. “We’ve started picking it up again.
“We’ve got a pretty young side with a lot of young players coming up. We’re beating the lower sides and keeping up with the top sides.”
“It’s about where we expected to be.”
Vallance said the average age of the playing group was in their early 20s with several teenagers among the group.
The likes of Reuben Micallef, Brody Lawrence and Levi Micallef haven’t looked out of place when they’ve got their opportunity.
“We lost a few players at the end of last season,” he said. “We’ve looked to up and coming players to fill those spots.
“They’re stepping up to a higher level and they’ve got the size and skills to be competitive. Steve Lawrence as a coach wants to play the younger players as much as possible so they can step up and take the reins in years to come.”
“They’re doing everything right.”
The Mustangs have a bye on the weekend.
Vallance said while they were using this as a development year, they were still aiming to be in the mix come September.
For Vallance a title at the Mustangs would be a dream come true having been involved for 17 years.
“We want to win,” he said. “We want to compete with the top teams.
“We drew with one of the top teams in the early rounds.”
