There’s a buzz around Mernda Football Club ahead of the Northern Football League division 3 season.
After a struggle which ended in relegation from division 2 last season, the Demons are looking forward to bouncing back this year.
New coach Jason Ford said the signs in the off‐season had been positive, despite dropping down a division.
“There are plenty of numbers on the track and the vibe and the culture of the club make it a good place to be,” he said.
Ford said the club’s new state‐of‐the‐art facilities meant players were finding training more enjoyable and wanted to be around the club.
“It creates a buzz . . . our old facilities were outdated,” he said.
The Demons retained most of their list despite relegation.
“We’ve managed to keep the core group together,” Ford said. “A few players left but they were only one‐year players.
“The core group we’ve managed to keep together has been together for the last three to four years.
“We’ve managed to get six to seven players back to the club; most of them were part of our team which made the preliminary final a couple of years ago.”
Among the players joining the club this season are full forward David Hutchinson, Ian Fulton, Steve Wallace and Josh Delaney, while Jayden Welch, a VFL‐listed player with Werribee, has returned.
Ford said there would be a huge focus on youth.
“A lot of clubs are realising they can’t compete in the financial game, it’s a short‐lived process,” he
“You need to build a club and culture with young blood.
“We have a number of young kids coming up from under‐17s and under‐19s and they’ll play senior football at some stage.
“We’ve had an intra club match and a practice match against Roxburgh Park and there were positive signs to come out of them . . . we’ve been able to observe new players and look at some of the younger ones.
“The goal is to play finals and we’ll be extremely disappointed not to.
“If we can make them, you never know what can happen.”
The Demons start their season with a home match against Epping on April 2.
