Bendigo FL: Kyneton pledges to take local focus with an eye on long-term future
A candid Luke Beattie has conceded Kyneton must shift its focus to developing local talent to ensure the club’s long-term future.
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A candid Luke Beattie has conceded Kyneton must shift its focus to developing local talent to ensure the club’s long-term future.
The Tigers put a call out for community support in September last year, revealing their debt had ballooned to about $200,000.
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Beattie, who has been the club’s senior coach since 2015, said Kyneton’s efforts to rebuild its playing list after going into recess in 2013 had contributed to the significant debt.
“There was a period there where the club, after going into recession, needed to spend a lot more than we probably would have liked to,” Beattie said.
“It certainly contributed in some manner to the club’s position over that period of time.
“(As) part of that recruitment drive we had such a strong external player recruitment.
“It was something we had to do at that time because of the lack of juniors coming through.”
A premiership player at the Bendigo Football League club, Beattie said the Tigers had been buoyed by the growth of their junior program in the past five years.
The club fielded teams in each junior age group from under-10s to under-18s last season and its under-16 and under-14 sides secured a top-two finish.
“That’s really going to help us,” Beattie said.
“Like Gisborne a few years ago, they had that growth year where a lot of those young kids at 17, 18, 19, who got a lot of senior time.
“The way they finished off the season last year is testament to putting time into those players.”
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Kyneton expects to fill the holes left in its senior team by a host of departures with players who have progressed through its junior program.
The Tigers have lost Jayden Exell (Leopold), Bryce Hinneberg, Daniel Davie, Billy Mahony (Mount Pleasant), Ethan Foreman (Riddell), Jack Exell (Queenscliff) and Nick and Fintan Brazil (Murrumbeena).
“We have been really fortunate over the last four to five years to welcome some remarkable people into our football club who have acquitted themselves as good as you could ever want them to,” Beattie said.
“It’s just the volume of those players we have had that was never sustainable. It’s a really exciting time for the football club to have such a good density of young Kyneton-based players coming through.
“A few of them had some senior time last year … and the club is now reaping the rewards of a very clear localised transition that was put forward five years ago.”
Foreman is the most significant departure from Kyneton Showgrounds after booting 58 goals in 2018.
Key forward/ruckman James Orr (Boort) is the club’s key recruit, crossing three years after winning the North Central Football League’s Feeny Medal.
“We just really wanted something to complement our forward line,” Beattie said.
“He’s someone that could really go on ball, potentially, if we needed to.
“He’s a very damaging player. He won the league medal with Boort a couple of years ago. It shows the calibre of player he is.”
Beattie said the Tigers nucleus, led by skipper Josh Govan, defender Harrison Huntley and star on-baller Rhys Magin, would ensure the club remained competitive against the BFL’s premier sides.
Kyneton finished third last year, but bombed out of finals with consecutive 112 and 104-point hidings against Eaglehawk and Sandhurst.
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