Tara Murray
A mountain of work on and off the field has Kyneton in a good position heading into the Bendigo Football League season.
The Tigers kicked off their season on Saturday against Castlemaine and were full of confidence after one of their best off seasons in a long time.
President Hayden Evans there was plenty of confidence about the whole club.
“It has been a long pre-season and everyone is really excited to get underway,” he said.
“Coming off COVID, there has been a lot of hard work recruiting and consolidating our list. We feel like we’ve put our best foot forward and we’re really focused on improvement.
“We are in a strong position heading into this year.”
Evans said they had focused on trying to not only bring good players into the club, but good people. Paul Chapman will coach the side for a second season.
Evans said they wanted to do the right thing by local players and support them with players that they’re hoping will stick around for a number of years.
Experienced is one of the key words that can be used to describe the Tigers recruits.
Mason Crozier, who played more than 150 games for Rowville, along with Rowville premiership player Steve Georgiou have come across.
One of their best mates Cam Manuel joins them at Kyneton having spent last year playing in Moe.
Fraser Driscoll comes to the club from playing in the Northern Territory.
Lachie Ford joins his house mate, Kyneton’s best and fairest winner from last season, Ned Sullivan, at the Tigers,
Jake Safstrom, Oscar Power Mitch Comben and Ben Xiriha all return to the club having played elsewhere last season in a positive sign going forward.
“There’s a lot of leadership,” Evans said.
“And juniors who have come back to the club. We struggled with depth last year with so many injuries.
“Depth hurt us in the reserves side as well. We’ve got 10 players coming into the team and some young guys are putting their hands up too.”
After finishing a game outside the top five last season when the season ended, the Tigers are keen to move up the ladder this year.
Evans said finals was the aim this year as they look to improve.
The Tigers started the season with a win, easily accounting for Castlemaine.
Round two presents one of the Tigers biggest matches of the year, hosting Gisborne on Good Friday under lights.
The two sides, the only two from the Macedon Ranges in the competition, traditionally meet on Good Friday didn’t last season.
Evans said they were looking forward to the match which always brings a good crowd.
“We’re excited about the challenge,” he said.
“They bat deep as well, and they’ve got some great local kids. We hope our guys are up for the challenge.”
The Bulldogs were set to start their season on Saturday against Sandhurst, after deadline.
