Tara Murray
Manor Lakes is making steps to reintroduce a senior football program in the Western Football League.
The club previously had men’s and women’s sides, but haven’t fielded teams for a number of seasons due to a lack of numbers.
Manor Lakes has recently put out expressions of interest to field a team in the thirds competition next season.
The competition normally plays on Friday nights and doesn’t have the same level as commitment as the other senior grades.
President Shane White said they had been focusing on building the foundations before looking at senior football again.
“It would be good,” he said. “It’s been a bit of a void for five years.
“It was about building the juniors and build the foundation, but five years later our juniors are getting older and we’ll have bottom age 18s next year.
“They’ll eventually need a senior program to go to. So we start the process now, hopefully we’ll be up and running by the time they’re ready to cross over into senior football.
White said getting under-18s means that pathway they’ve been seeking is starting to come to fruition.
He said it’s made up of a core group of players that have been pretty strong along the way.
“We’ll have 18s right through to under-10s,” he said. “It’s all based off our Auskick program which has been going as long as the club has.
“We’ve got consistency in the 10s, 12s, 14s, 16s has now led up to having 18s.”
White said having a thirds side takes the pressure off a bit in terms of training and having two sides if they were to go straight back into seniors and reserves.
He said they had done their research and it was a good competition that is available to them.
“It’s a good way to start, it’s a good way to track interest,” he said. “Get some senior people to the club on field and also off field socially.
“It gives our 18s and 16s some senior training presence on the training track as well.”
“It’s also about building the numbers on the track as well.”
White said there had been some really good reaction so far from people wanting to play within a week of announcing their intentions.
He said the next thing they need is someone who wants to step up and coach the side and seek expressions of interest.
White said long term they want to get both their men’s and women’s programs back up and running. The club also has senior netball teams.
“We did have a strong women’s team for quite a while,” he said. “We were up and running early and were successful then we didn’t have the juniors to replace them.
“We got a bit older and they had babies and things like that. It’s definitely a path we want to do go down again.
“With the seniors have both seniors and reserves running would be great. In the five years we’ve concentrated on juniors, club rooms and social rooms extended and extra ground facilities.”
With the introduction of under-18s and possibly a thirds side the club is also planning to refresh its playing jumper.
Expression of interest for the thirds team: enquiries.mlfnc@gmail.com
