The Western Rams will field at least two junior sides in the forthcoming Riddell District Football League season.
The Rams, the junior arm of the Rockbank Football Club, entered the year hoping to field at least one side after not having a single junior side in the past seven seasons.
Rams football operation manager Gavin Sporle said they were ecstatic to have enough numbers to have under-10 and under-16.5 teams this year.
Sporle said they were still looking for players for both sides.
“We’re really pleased,” he said. “The biggest challenge was to get up one side this year and we’re already looking at two. We have 15 under-10 players at the moment, which is enough for a side.
“The under-16.5 age group really surprised us – we have about 18 players already. We thought we were more likely to get under-14 players.”
Sporle said the club hadn’t given up hope of fielding an under-14 team. He said they would make a call on that by the end of this week.
“We have some numbers to play at this stage, but not enough for a team,” he said.
Fees have been discounted for juniors and will be $100 for the season.
Sporle said plans to get junior netball sides up had been postponed for 12 months. He said they were hoping to have a full set of football and netball teams next year.
Meanwhile, Rockbank has signed Diggers Rest premiership player Tom Evans for its senior side.
Evans played 19 games for the Burras last season, including the overtime grand final victory against Riddell.
Sporle said the addition of Evans, along with their other signings, had fulfilled the club’s pre-season recruiting aims.
“We’re really pleased with the guys that we’ve brought in – they’re in the right age bracket,” he said. “They are utility players who can move around the ground.”
Sporle said that while happy with the players they had recruited, the Rams were still looking for players for all three senior sides. Anyone interested in playing seniors or juniors, can contact him on 0415 199 730.
