Melton Centrals coach Glenn Hopkins is keen to get some experienced players into his squad in the off-season.
Centrals were one of the youngest Riddell District Football League sides this year and the lack of older players took its toll.
They won just two games for the season and finished 12th on the ladder.
While proud of the effort his young players showed, Hopkins said their development could be fast-tracked with some wise heads to call on.
“Going into the season, we lost half of the senior list from 2014,” he said. “That made it pretty difficult from the start.
“Experience-wise … that’s probably where we missed out in terms of just having enough good, solid and experienced footballers.
“Because of that, we played a lot of kids and gave them plenty of experience. I think that will be good for the future.”
Centrals’ best win for the season came in round one when they defeated local rival Rockbank by seven points.
The club’s other win came against the struggling Kilmore in round seven.
It will be a busy off-season for Centrals, who are leaving their base at McPherson Park for a new centre at Arnolds Creek.
Hopkins believes the move to a more central location will make recruiting players easier and allow the club to continue to focus on improving its training standards.
“We’ve tried to make training a lot more structured and get the players to have a lot more intensity,” he said.
“We have to work hard and get more consistency of numbers and consistency of effort at training.
“That will give them the right habits under pressure.”
There has been better news for the Centrals’ netballers who have secured a berth in the Riddell District Netball League finals series.
Melton will take on third-placed Macedon in an elimination final this week.
