EFL 2019: Ringwood to be without Trent Farmer and Ben Power this Eastern Football Leagueseason
Ringwood will be without its best two players this Eastern Football League season as the Redbacks look to erase the pain of last year’s shock grand final defeat.
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Ringwood will be without its best two players this Eastern Football League season as the Redbacks look to erase the pain of last year’s shock grand final defeat.
Two-time Division 3 best-and-fairest winner Trent Farmer and four-time Team of the Year ruckman Ben Power will both miss the 2019 campaign.
Farmer will spend the year travelling, while Power has decided to have the season off.
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Former captain Farmer has kicked 256 goals in the past four seasons on his way to collecting the past two Paul Edie medals, while Power won the club’s best-and-fairest last year.
But Ringwood coach Brett Rowe said Farmer may return in the second half of the campaign.
“He’s still young so you can’t stop him, you can’t begrudge him to get out there and travel, but we’re still pretty confident he’ll be back,” Rowe said.
“Two very important players but we think as a group we can cover them as well.
“We’ve got good depth at our club so we’re pretty confident we’ll be able to cover them.”
Daniel Jordanov has been slated for more time in the ruck, while it’s hoped newly appointed skipper Nathan Cairns will fill Farmer’s role in attack.
Daniel Atwell (Yackandandah) and Mitchell Jacobs (Kilsyth) are also omissions from last year’s grand final team.
Ashley Stagg, Rhys Mills and Lachlan Evans have all transferred to Jubilee Park from South Croydon.
Stagg and Mills have come out of the Bulldogs’ under-19s, while Evans played reserves last year.
“Ash is a real hard-at-it midfielder with a bit of pace and Rhys will probably play down back when he gets his opportunity,” Rowe said.
“Lachie will give us a bit more grunt inside — we pride ourselves on our contested work so he’ll just add to that.”
Young Park Orchards midfielder James Parker has also joined Ringwood.
“Not having a junior club, we just thought we needed to get a bit of depth in regards to our list until our junior club gets going,” Rowe said.
“We’ve just got to sustain for the next few years until we get this junior club through, so that’s why we went down this recruiting path with the younger-type players we think can add a bit but can also be at the club for a long time.”
Rowe tipped Ringwood would again be a premiership contender after advancing to last year’s decider undefeated, only to fall at the final hurdle.
He said the Redbacks would have a similar look to last year.
“That’s why we’re still pretty bullish about our year,” he said.
“While they (Farmer and Power) are big holes to fill. We think we’re more than capable of filling them — we’ll back our depth and back our system.”
Ringwood opens its season with a home game against Templestowe on April 6.
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