By Tara Murray
Merrifield Panthers will take their next step in their football journey, with senior football to join the ranks for the first time in 2025.
The Panthers made their debut in the Essendon District Football League last season with three junior sides.
The club has seen massive growth and are looking to field five junior sides along with a senior thirds side this year.
Panthers president Paul Higginson said it was a pretty exciting time for the club to have senior football.
He said starting a senior program was six years ahead of schedule which was exciting for the community.
“It’s definitely something that we wanted to get up early on and we’re really excited it’s come to fruition,” he said.
“We tried to get a couple of dads last season to run it but we didn’t quite have the numbers. They continued to get their fitness up
“They’re looking forward to it.”
Higginson said they’d already had 30 players come to training and other guys who had been in contact about getting involved, some in a non-playing capacity.
He said the interest had surpassed what they were expecting and they weren’t looking for any other players but were still looking for volunteers to help out.
“We know the population around the area is mostly that 20 to 40 age group,” he said. “Many have moved away from home and their footy clubs and stopped playing footy.
“A lot retired three, five, even 10 years ago and are keen to get back into playing.”
Simon Marchitto has come on board as coach of the senior side, with Trent Wilson to be an assistant coach.
Higginson said one of the biggest things about the men’s side was to provide somewhere as an outlet and help with the mental health which many men neglect.
“I am a major advocate for supporting men’s mental health,” he said. “Giving the men in the community an enjoyable and safe place to come and play football and be around other blokes that they can call friends has been one of my life’s greatest achievements.”
Higginson said the plan eventually was to have more senior sides and be able to play in the Saturday competitions and provide that pathway all the way through the age groups.
They are also looking at expanding into women’s football in 2026.
On the junior side this season, the Panthers are looking to field two under-8 sides, an under-10, under-12 and under-14 side.
Higginson said they were still looking for players for their under-14 side.
The club is also hunting for sponsors.
