By Nick Creely
With a shade of just under two months until the AFL Outer East season kicks off, the Officer Senior Football Club is searching far and wide for players to fill its Division 1 under 18 side.
The Kangaroos won the inaugural Division 1 Under 18s premiership in an absolute thrilling grand final against Pakenham at Woori Yallock last season, but are struggling to field a side this season with preparations in full swing for a 2020 where expectation on the club as a whole will continue.
Officer president Nick McLennan told the Gazette that despite the glory of 2019 for the club, the Kangaroos – unless they can get players on board – will not be able to enter a team this season.
“”Season 2019 was a fantastic year for the club with all three of our senior men’s teams reaching the finals for the first time in well over a decade with our under 18s managing to go all the way,” he said.
“As a club we are really proud of what this outstanding group of young men were able to achieve last year.”
McLennan said that while there is plenty of optimism surrounding 2020 and the commitment of its senior group, there is a lot of work left to do to try and bring in the players to the under 18s.
“Our player retention from the team itself has been excellent which gives me great hope for the future of the club with a great deal of the players recommitting to club longer term as they look to step up into senior footy,” he said.
“Sadly, despite the success of last year it is becoming increasingly unlikely that we will be able to field an under 18’s side in 2020 and we are looking far and wide for people interested in joining the team moving forward.
“The reality is that with the competition changing from under 19s to under 18s we now only have very limited numbers of people to recruit from with players in the local area finishing their junior football at under 17s.
“Last year we managed to get by, by bringing in players from outside our ranks but this year we haven’t had the same success to date.
“It’s unfortunate because we have a very talented coaching team led by Doug Koop and we believe we have a lot that we can offer young footballers to help them get the best out of themselves.”
McLennan said that despite the challenges facing the club, he believes the flourishing junior football club will allow the Kangaroos to be able to build its playing stocks in the future.
“Longer term the future of our under 18s side will be secure with great numbers coming through the ranks in the junior club in the younger and middle age groups but the challenge for us going forward will be managing it for the short term,” he said.
“We’re calling on anyone regardless of skill or experience who turn 18 after January 1, 2020 to join us, if people are interested they can contact us via Facebook or our club website.”
Anyone interested in joining the club can contact Nick McLennan on rocfc@icloud.com or 0421 621 605
