Lancefield struggling on recruiting front but confident of improvement

LANCEFIELD is hoping the improvement left in its playing group will be enough to help it climb the ladder next season.

RDFL footy: Diggers Rest V Lancefield. Lancefield coach Ashley Manning with player Tim Vandervalk.

LANCEFIELD is hoping the improvement left in its playing group will be enough to help it climb the ladder next season with the club battling to snare recruits in recent months.

The Tigers were keen to add a handful of new players to their list for next year’s Riddell District Football League campaign, but have found the going difficult despite having countless discussions with prospective players and an allocation of six bonus points under the player points cap.

“We should have been in a good position because we were prepared to spend a little bit more money. But we’ve just struggled,” Lancefield coach Ash Manning said.

“One of the areas that we needed to improve was getting a ruckman and we’re still trying to do that, but big blokes cost a lot of money and without paying ridiculous prices it’s hard to get them to come up to Lancefield.”

The Tigers have, however, locked down most of the squad which finished eighth with seven wins this season.

Ben Anderson (overseas) is the only notable departure.

With a host of young players at his fingertips, Manning said he was confident the current group could lift another level next year.

“I think we do (have natural improvement),” he said.

“We played quite a few young guys this year, some who were new to the league.

“Brett Pitts was injured most of the year so we expect some improvement in him and we’ve got some young guys like Daniel Frost, Shane Lindsay, Daniel Rebbechi, Conor Barton and Ciaran Barton, who it was their first taste of senior footy this year.

“All those guys have got 12 months and 15 senior games under their belt so hopefully they’ll be a bit better as well.”

In further positive news, Lancefield is confident of fielding under-16s and under-18.5s sides next year after failing to do so this year.

The Tigers started pre-season last month and will hold sessions once a week in the lead up to Christmas.