Bell Park expected to rely on young Dragons to perform in 2023 GFL season

After retirements and departures of some of Bell Park’s most senior players, new coach James Saker is relying on the development of the young Dragons in 2023.

Football GFL: North Shore v Bell Park Bell Park 33 Will Christie celebrates a goal Picture: Mark Wilson

NEW Bell Park coach James Saker is expecting some growing pains after the Dragons adjust to a new game plan in the GFL.

Saker joined Bell Park after Shane Jack parted ways with the club, with the Dragons winning just six games in 2022.

Since the end of the season, the Dragons have lost captain Jackson Bright to retirement, as well as experienced rucks Luke Goetz and Will Christie to other competitions.

Jackson Bright retired from GFL football after a team-of-the-year 2022. Picture: Mark Wilson

Saker said he was left with an inexperienced, but talented, group of players.

“Jacko has obviously retired, hopefully he comes out of retirement but we’ll see how that goes, that’s pretty unlikely,” he said.

“We obviously lost Luke Goetz, and Will Christie is travelling back home to Wangaratta so it’s disappointing to lose him but we understand his reasons for moving on.

Will Christie has left Bell Park.

“There’s no surprises we’re going to be pretty young, but a lot of these guys have had exposure to senior footy.

“There’s a lot of talent in that list, so I don’t want to put a ceiling on what we want to achieve, we want to set high expectations on ourselves and see what we can do.

“Without some of those senior guys we’re going to have to rely on the young guys to step up and play well in order to compete.”

Star midfielder Lachie Patten was a shining light for Bell Park in 2022 and is expected to play a pivotal role in the upcoming season.

Luke Goetz will suit up for Bacchus Marsh in 2023.

Saker said Patten would lead a young brigade of midfielders that had “a lot of potential”.

“We’ve got a decent contingent that are still in the throws of VFL systems, so guys like Jack Sarcevic is in really good nick, his brother Charlie is looking really good as well,” he said.

“Jack McMahon is another one that we didn’t see a lot of last season but his body is progressing really well and he’s a pretty talented young guy who we want to get some games into.

“We’ve started to integrate my core beliefs in how football should look into our game plan as we start to do more ball movement work.

“As I’m getting to know the players more, their skills and individual talents come to the fore and we’ll manipulate our game plan as we go along.

“We’ve got a pretty strong group, we’re probably chasing a couple of potential recruits but we’re pretty happy with out squad as it stands.

“We’d like a ruck without doubt, but in saying that there’s some young guys coming through that would be able to shoulder some loads.

“A focal key forward would also be great, and then you never knock back a quality midfielder if they’re around, but I think we’re like every other local clubs in country footy.”

Originally published as Bell Park expected to rely on young Dragons to perform in 2023 GFL season