Tara Murray
There will be no premiership hangover for Riddell in the Riddell District Football League according to football manager Craig Rowsell.
After peaking at the right time of the year, the Bombers proved too strong for Diggers Rest in the grand final.
While many would take the foot off the pedal after that success, Rowsell said it was anything but the case.
“There’s not going to be a premiership hangover,” he said.
“With work I didn’t go down for three to four weeks and I went back down two weeks ago and I was gobsmacked.
“There was a really strong attitude, the level of fitness and where we are at. There’s been a lot of extra running and they’ve really brought in.
“I don’t think I’ve seen them fitter.”
Having kept most of their premiership squad together, Roswell said they enter this season with a strong yet again.
While they’ve lost Mick Edwards, the Treweek brothers, Tim Walsh and Riley Paterson, former skippers Haydn Ross and Matt Panuccio have returned.
Ben Said, who was part of their 2016 grand final side, is also back at the club after spending last season with Rupertswood.
Brad Mundy from the Sunbury Lions has also joined the club.
Roswell said they would continue to push the next generation of Bombers as well.
“We’ve got a key focus on development,” he said.
“We’ve got players like Jesse Horton, Oscar Besanko, Brodie Miller and Jack Hammerling, who were in our grand final team, have all re-signed. We really worked on getting them a taste last year.
“Darcy Mcgrath, Oliver Powell and Harrison Sloss looking forward to stepping up and getting a really good taste.”
Roswell said they were getting 60 odd players on the track with solid numbers for the reserves, with three or four more mature players having come back to the club.
Roswell said they were probably a few numbers short of having a full squad in the under-19s, but said they had a quality team with the players they did.
The Bombers have also strengthened their coaching ranks to support premiership Justin Belleville. Anthony Power has come across from Diggers Rest and Dylan Coventry from the Sunbury Lions, having both tasted premiership success at their former clubs.
The Bombers start their season on Good Friday against Woodend-Hesket. It’s a second straight season the two clubs have played on the public holiday.
Roswell said they were excited to get the season underway. He said they were hoping to get a big crowd to the match, with it being the only match of the round in the competition.
“It’s exciting, it’s a standalone game,” he said. “It’s a really good thing and then we have the PUKA Cup against Macedon. It’s a good start to the season.”
