Tara Murray
The anticipation is growing ahead of Kyneton’s Riddell District Football League debut.
The Tigers made the move from the Bendigo Football League to the RDFL in the off season and they don’t have to wait long to get things underway.
The Tigers will host Woodend-Hesket in a standalone Good Friday match up before the season kicks off fully on April 6.
New Tigers coach Ethan Foreman said they were all keen to get out there on the field. Paul Chapman coached the side last season before stepping down mid season.
“It’s definitely something different,” he said. “The club is in a good spot.
“There’s a vibe at the club that I have not seen before. I’ve grown up playing at the club and never seen this vibe.
“The numbers have been huge and the pre-season has been good.”
Foreman said he puts the vibe down to a few different things.
He said there’s a feeling that they could have some success in this competition after struggling to make finals in the Bendigo league, while there’s been excitement with a lot of boys coming back to the club in the past couple of years.
“We’ve got locals back home and there’s a good energy at the place,” Foreman said. “We’ve had people off the street who haven’t played for a few years want to play too.
“We’ll play with 19 or 20 one pointers in round one which is huge.”
As well as bringing some young players back to the club, the Tigers have a number of young players ready to make the step up.
Jye Chambers, Cody Young, Brady Muir, Lachlan Thompson and William Armstrong are some of the young ones Foreman is looking forward to lining up with.
“There’s been huge development in a lot of the younger group that have stepped up to the senior program,” he said
“It’s fairly huge for these guys.”
Foreman said they were expecting a big crowd at Kyneton Showgrounds on Good Friday, with a number of activities to be in place for the crowd.
He said they were hoping it would be the start of a good rivalry on field with the Hawks.
“We’re super excited,” he said. “I’ve grown up with a lot of the Woodend boys and that rivalry will be huge and something to build on for many years.
“Speaking with a few of them, they’ve keen to build this rivalry too.”
