South Morang is looking to learn from the mistakes of the last couple of years when it kicks off its the new Northern Football League division 3 season on Saturday.
All three Lions sides made finals last year, and the senior team made a preliminary final in 2014, but they have nothing to show for it.
New coach Dean Grainger said that while the club was looking to move on from the last few years, they would take a lot out of it.
“I’m expecting them to learn from the last couple of years . . . learn what they can be better at,” he said.
“All the coaches are pushing for the players to become more professional at what they are do and I think that’ll go a long way.
“We need to be competitive for longer in games. That’s where we let ourselves down last year, not playing for full quarters.”
The new coach said he had been impressed with the preseason and he and the team had spent a lot more time together as a group.
“There have been two to three months of training and they are itching to get out on the park,” he said.
“Being a new coach, a lot of training focuses on the way we want to play; a lot of ball work and the fitness that comes with that.
“We’ve been doing a lot more things together as a group instead of splitting up into smaller groups on the track.”
Grainger said the club had not looked to add too many players to its senior side as he was looking for the younger players to take the next step, but said they had added a few experienced players to the squad.
Kane Maghamez will probably go straight into the senior team while the club has also signed Luke McKenna, Michael Celestin and Liam and Tristan Simmons.
“Kane has impressed in the preseason,” Grainger said.
“We’ve more stuck with what we had and we’re looking for the 19, 20, 21-year-olds to step up.
“They’ve trained the house down and guys like Daniel Caruso and James Mellerick have been standouts.”
The Lions kick off their season away at to Watsonia at 2.10pm on Saturday..
“It will definitely be a close competition,” Grainger said.
“There will be an even spread and not one or two teams dominating. There will be five \or six teams fighting it out.”
