EFNL 2025: Finals on radar for Croydon North-MLOC following recruiting boost

The Croydon North-MLOC coach says his club isn’t “shying away” from hopes of a finals berth this season following a four-win campaign last year. Here’s why.

Croydon North-MLOC's Jacob Crowe celebrates a goal in 2024. Picture: Field of View Photography

Why not this year?

It’s the question on the minds of many at Eastern league Division 4 club Croydon North-MLOC as it ponders a finals berth following an off-season of sound recruiting.

The Kanga-Rams won just four matches last year – and a combined five across the past two seasons – but senior coach Ben Oakes believes the time could be nigh to take the next step.

The club joined the Eastern league in 2019 and has never played finals.

“We’re looking at having a winning season – whether that’s finishing in the top two or top four, or winning more games than we lose,” Oakes said.

“We’re definitely aiming to play finals and to a point it would be disappointing if we didn’t, but at the same time, we’ve won five games in two years.

“We’re not shying away from it (finals) … but we’ve also got to take into account where we’re coming from.”

Headlining the signings is Nunawading full forward Konrad Bendrups, who made Eastern’s Division 4 Team of the Year in 2023.

Bendrups previously played for VAFA club Manningham Cobras, and has kicked 43 goals across the past two seasons at Nunawading – including 30 in ’23 before a move into the midfield in ’24.

Oakes said Bendrups could inject much-needed leadership while “kicking a few extra goals” in the club’s quest to climb the ladder, after finishing fifth of the comp’s seven teams last year.

“We were around the mark at the end of last season – we weren’t far off, and those last five games, we should’ve won three of them. We identified we weren’t strong enough up forward and our midfield probably didn’t have enough depth,” Oakes said.

“We felt he (Bendrups) would be a good option for us if he was willing to move. He reached out and we were happy to have him, and you can’t get enough good people in the club.”

Midfielder Lewis Mitchell is the latest big inclusion, crossing from Old Yarra Cobras where he brings experience from the VAFA’s Division 1 and 2.

He’s also had several stops in Tasmania – including a premiership with Scotchtown in 2021.

The 23-year-old trained with Croydon North-MLOC prior to Christmas and joins an emerging group.

“We were pretty confident we’d get a quality inside midfielder, whose ball-winning ability is second to none as what we saw at training,” Oakes said.

“He’s young, he’s 23 and along with our crew … they should all be able to play for Croydon North for the next 10 years.

“For us it’s not just about talent, but also the individual.”

But they’re not the only inclusions.

Young talent Ryan Smeed (Park Orchards) is set to add pace, Cody Wake (Heathmont) is touted for a key position role and wingman Nathan Hinton (Mt Evelyn) brings premier grade experience from the Outer East league.

Meanwhile, outgoing Nunawading coach Frank Salanitri has joined the club as football operations manager.

And there are more names on the radar.

“We’re probably going to make a few announcements over the next couple of weeks … we’ve identified that we do need a couple of older heads,” Oakes said.

“All things going forward, those players we’ve recruited, they should help us get past the point of just being competitive.”