EFL 2018: Mulgrave’s player points space set to help launch a bold recruiting strategy

MULGRAVE appears set to launch a bold recruiting strategy as it prepares for the likelihood of demotion to the third tier for the first time in nearly half a century.

Tim Knowles looks to slip a tackle against Bayswater. Picture: Ashlee Bieniak

MULGRAVE appears set to launch a bold recruiting strategy as it prepares for the likelihood of demotion to the third tier for the first time in nearly half a century.

The Lions are winless after the first 11 rounds of the Eastern Football League season and are staring at the prospect of their second demotion in eight years after winning the 2010 Division 2 premiership.

Remarkably, Mulgrave has averaged just 23 player points per game this year, with Todd Kenny and James Barlow the only players who have been allocated more than one point.

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Mulgrave vice-president Scott Davidson said the Lions’ abundance of space in the points tally would allow the club to target mature players to support its youth.

“We’re getting pretty aggressive now in not waiting to be reactive, we’re being aggressive in where we’re going shopping and what we’re going to do for recruiting for next year because we do have points,” Davidson said.

“When you start to talk to the clubs that are in first division, they’ve got a whole bunch of homegrown talent but they can’t get into their firsts because they are going to have to recruit ex-AFL players to stay competitive in first division.

“You’ve got a whole bunch of good citizens that have grown through some of these clubs that are sitting in the reserves that want to be making some money for playing on Saturday, and they are not.

“We’re now having a look at that to say, ‘we don’t want to go and hire guns, we want to go and find the good citizens that are out there that deserve to be getting paid on a Saturday and the strong bodies that can help our younger guys mature’.”

Mulgrave has also been hampered by injuries to experienced quartet Adam Booth, Ben Gilling, Tim Knowles and Cohen Howell.

The Lions need to win three games in the remaining seven rounds of the season to avoid relegation to the third tier for the first time since 1971.

But Davidson said the club had not considered the prospect of demotion.

“Anthony (Goodwin) is coaching well with the tools he has got and I think the guys are learning a lot and that has kept everybody bonded in a sense that nobody is pointing fingers, we haven’t had a drop off at training, we haven’t had a drop off anywhere,” he said.

“There’s not a negative around the club and we’re hoping we can announce some signings before the end of this year.”