Local footy: Westmeadows’ plan to take on EDFL’s elite
Essendon District Football League club Westmeadows are not making any bold statements, but they are working diligently behind the scenes as they eye a spot in Premier Division.
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Westmeadows are not making any bold statements.
But the Essendon District Football League outfit has grand plans and is working diligently towards securing a spot in Premier Division.
The Tigers were one of the big improvers last year, exiting the Division 1 flag race in the opening week of finals, and were set to enter this season as one of the flag contenders.
With a booming junior program and young senior group, Westmeadows are bullish about the future.
While the campaign was canned amid the coronavirus pandemic, there has been no time for rest for president Grant Smith and his committee over an extended off-season, with the clubrooms undergoing a renovation and works undertaken at Willowbrook Reserve.
There is also stability, with Mo Kaakour locked in as coach until the end of 2022.
“We’ve spent five or six years building up our junior program,” Smith said.
“We would have had 350 juniors across the girls and boys register this year and 22 teams. We’re looking at growing from that base to become a more long-term, sustainable Premier Division club in the next 3-5 years.
“That’s as opposed to thinking we could make the transition now, especially having a year off footy and having to reset ourselves financially and those things.
“We think another year of finals footy next year, maybe play off in a grand final the year after and maybe we get into Premier Division after 2022 or 2023.”
The Tigers will retain the bulk of their senior squad for next season as clubs prepare for salary cap cuts.
The Division 1 player payments limit has been reduced to $85,000 – 50 per cent less than it was going to be this year – to allow clubs to regain their financial footing.
But the year off will allow Westmeadows to regain some key personnel.
Josh Flower enjoyed an impressive 2019 campaign before hurting his shoulder. He was tipped to fill the void of midfielder Marwan Abdul-Wahed, who crossed to Maribyrnong Park, before re-injuring his shoulder during pre-season.
Flower is set to return next season, along with midfielder/forward Omar Abdallah, who was likely to miss most of 2020 with a knee injury.
Big man Michael Gillard will also return after making the decision to leave last off-season.
Westmeadows also recruited strongly on the back of last season’s finals appearance, landing Jayden Ranno, George Nabbout (both Airport West), Belal Abou-Eid (Sunshine), Aaron Vendramini (Craigieburn) and Ferras Merhi (Roxburgh Park).
“We’ve basically signed up the entire list,” Smith said.
“There’s still a couple of the more high-end players that are probably going to hold out and see what happens with other competitions, see if their caps are higher than our caps and then make a decision.
“But so far the general feeling is that everyone’s on board and keen to have a real crack at it next year.
“Apart from some specialist roles, we’re not really in the market (for recruits).
“Depending what they do with the under-19 competition, we might have 30 kids come up to play senior footy because they’ve missed that year of under-18s.”
Division 1 promises to be a fascinating competition in 2021, with talent laden East Keilor expected to set the standard.
Airport West, Tullamarine and Westmeadows will be in contention, while West Coburg still has a good crop of players with Premier Division experience.
Taylors Lakes is aiming high, while Hillside and Roxburgh Park will be looking to improve. Sunbury Kangaroos are the unknown after winning last year’s Division 2 flag.
“Obviously East Keilor have gone hard (recruiting), and good on them,” Smith said.
“But we still think we’re competitive with Tullamarine, Airport West.
“I’m not going to say we’ll finish on top and win a flag, but I think we’re in that mix between two and five.”
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