Season Preview – Yarra Junction

The Yarra Junction Eagles are aiming for a great season, with success the key to obtaining a ‘pass’ in 2021.

While enjoying some good numbers for pre-season training, senior coach Richard Brown was careful in his evaluation of the summer period.

“I would rate the pre-season in the fair to good range,” Brown said.

“But we have now implemented all the things necessary to get our season on track.”

The Eagles lost up to three players from their senior team, while a large number of players were required to top up the reserves team.

The club recruited well over the off-season, bringing in Steve Colosimo from Wantirna and Fair Park, while James Brown, Chris Powers and Jarrod Webb have come across from Belgrave.

Tye Crook also returns after taking a break from football for a number of years.

The womens football team, on the other hand is flying, having beaten Thornton Eildon by 57 points last weekend.

The focus will now be to ensure they carry on the momentum and have a great year ahead, with a competitive year looking likely for the girls.

“Our womens team is going really well and they always have their 25-30 players on the track,” Brown explained.

“If they play as well as they did on the weekend, they’ll be very competitive for most of the season.”

While disappointed to lose the first match of the year by 14 points to Kinglake, Brown was positive that his side is capable of having a great year in the ATC Traffic Division Two ranks.

“The aim is to try and make the finals which is something I think we are capable of doing,” Brown mentioned.

“To be beaten at home is always disappointing, our defence and midfield was really good but we failed a bit up forward as we didn’t have any connection between our midfield and forward line.

“In identifying these areas we didn’t do so well in our first match, I am confident that we will be able to quickly address these issues before we get too far into the season.”

The Yarra Junction Eagles will play its second-round match against Warburton Millgrove at Warburton Recreation Reserve on Sunday 25 April.