Glen Orden is set to make its much anticipated return to the Western Region Football League for the 2024 season.
While the sporting club is “thriving” according to president Peter MacDonald, the men’s football team was unable to take the field in 2023 for the second time in six seasons.
Now as pre-season for the 2024 season begins, a push to get the Hawks back to playing has also begun.
“We were disappointed last year that we couldn’t continue through the circumstances but there’s enough people around the club that want to keep it running,” MacDonald said.
“We’re not just a footy club, we’re a sporting club and the rest of the club’s thriving, we just need to get the senior football back.
“We’ll be training every Wednesday for the next four weeks until Christmas and look at building momentum into 2024.”
The Hawks hosted their first session back on Wednesday and had positive numbers with roughly 20 in attendance and 15 who suggested interest but couldn’t attend.
“We’re certainly more than confident that we’ll lead a team on the park next year, with the feedback we’ve got, the communication we’ve had from new and old players from around the area,” MacDonald said.
“We’re looking at having two competitive teams next year in what’s going to be a joint second division competition.
“We’ve got 30 odd on the books already, there’s still a long way to go to get those two teams.
“But our goal is to have two teams on the park next year.”
The WRFL moving from three to two divisions will help the Hawks from a longevity perspective, as MacDonald said if the league was like this for the 2023 season, the club’s football team would’ve continued playing.
“Our senior players were up to second division, and our reserves team would have been a very competitive third division team,” he said.
“But when our reserves are losing all the time in the second division, that was hurting us, and I understand that.
“But with two divisions and being able to play against all those other teams every second week almost, that’s going to give us a better grounding, I think.”
While getting a women’s team and juniors program up and running are goals of the club, its main priority lies with the senior mens. However, MacDonald said he is confident in an under 9s and under 10s team forming for next season.
If you are interested in playing for the Hawks next season they will be training every Wednesday in the lead up to Christmas from 6pm at the Glen Orden Sports Club.
