EFL 2019: East Ringwood to be without ex-Gold Coast Sun Leigh Osborne for ‘indefinite’ period of time
East Ringwood is preparing to meet three opponents for the first time in its history, but the Roos will be without one of their star players for an “indefinite” period of time.
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It will be a season of firsts for East Ringwood.
The Roos will meet Doncaster East, Park Orchards, Upper Ferntree Gully and Mooroolbark for the first time in their history in 2019.
They will also meet Croydon, Lilydale and Wantirna South for the first time in several years.
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But East Ringwood will have to do it without ex-Gold Coast Sun Leigh Osborne, who looks set for a long stint on the sidelines.
The midfielder missed the last five weeks of last year with a foot injury and has suffered a fresh setback on the eve of the season.
Darcy Hubbard and Martin Ekers will also miss the campaign with ruptured anterior cruciate ligaments.
East Ringwood coach Marcus Buzaglo said Osborne, who was in East Ringwood’s best players seven times in 13 games last year, could miss a “significant period of time”.
He was sent for scans on Monday, with Buzaglo adding his return was “indefinite”.
“He feels exactly the same (as last year) so he’s thinking the worst (stress fracture) and if it’s the same spot they’ll put a screw in it, but we’re sort of guessing,” Buzaglo said.
“I don’t think he’ll play this week and probably for a few weeks.”
East Ringwood was last year demoted from the Eastern Football League’s top tier for the first time since 1973 as part of the competition restructure.
Demotion to the second tier means the Roos will be playing against many new faces and visiting grounds they have never been to.
Buzaglo said this year would be an unknown for his side.
“I think it is for quite a number of clubs but one thing I do know is it’s an even competition,” he said.
“I know Doncaster East have been touting themselves as premiership favourites so they’re pretty confident, which is fine, so the rest of us might be playing for second but I think it’s going to be fairly even.”
Wil Parker, Connor Weightman and Ben Hickleton have all been listed with the Eastern Ranges, and Buzaglo said there was “probably three or four” other under-19s players he would like to “play fairly quickly”.
Josh Allison (South Croydon), Matthew Sharpe (Waverley Blues) and Adam Gibson (Norwood) are the significant inclusions.
Buzaglo said there was no reason to change his view that East Ringwood could crack a top-five berth for the first time in 11 years.
“There are little things that can go for or against you but we just want to try win every game we can,” he said.
“We’ve sat down and set some goals but I guess it’s not so much finals and winning every game, it’s more process driven. It’s about the way we want to play, it’s about being competitive every week, it’s about being really respected by sides that play against us and being really hard to play against.
“We want to play finals but also before that get the process right and I think finals will take care of itself, hopefully.”
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