Oliver Lees
Spotswood playing coach Tom German is hopeful a more consistent season will help his side challenge for finals Western Football League division 1.
The Woodsmen had an up and down campaign in 2023 that had them finish just outside of finals contention with nine wins and nine losses.
“That’s always going to happen when you have a new list,” German said. “We got hit hard early with injury, we had a lot of players missing.”
German said this year he feels his side is better placed in what will be his second season in charge.
“We had our ups and downs, we started the year poorly with our win loss ratio but thought we ended with some good results,” he said.
“We want to get the team playing with the new game style.
“We managed to retain nearly our entire list and we’ve had a really good pre-season, so we should be right come round one.”
The club has also made some new signings.
Nicholas Wright joins the team after playing for Newcastle Blues in New South Wales.
Julian Mosaresvki will also play for the club in 2024 after playing for Glenroy in the Essendon District Football League where he played the full season in the senior side.
German said he had also been impressed by new recruit Nathan Haylock in pre-season playing as a key back.
Haylock has played at Coates Talent League level and also represented the Hampden league.
German was among three Woodsmen named in the division 1 team of the year, with Brandon Walshe and David Iaccarino also named.
Walshe booted 33 goals across eighteen games to finish fifth in the league’s goal kicking leader board.
German said Iaccarino has been named to captain his side following a vote among the players.
“Dave’s very respected in the group and he had a very good year last year,” he said.
The Woodsmen will play their first game of the season against Hoppers Crossing on Saturday April 13 at Donald McLean Reserve.
The two teams met twice last year, both winning one a piece.
In round 3, the Warriors won the match comfortably by 70 points, while the Woodsmen won by four points later in the year.
German said he was looking forward to the contest.
“It’s a very even competition, they finished last but played some good footy.
“Every game is going to be tough, you’ve got to be on your game.”
He said it was also encouraging that the club had good numbers turning up in pre-season.
“We have a third side this year, so anyone interested can come down,” he said.
“You speak to a lot of clubs that struggle throughout the season, so it’s encouraging we had really good numbers coming through.”
All teams will be chasing Werribee Districts who defeated Point Cook to claim its first WFL division 1 title.
