By Tara Murray
Newport Storm is taking the next step in its journey with the club to field an FV state league 5 west side for the first time.
The club, which was formed in 2020, has had junior sides along with senior metropolitan sides in the last few years.
To further progress the club, the Storm put in an application to progress into the state league competition and was successful.
Storm president Zayed Halloum said it was exciting for the club to progress to the next level.
“We’ve had a really good reaction from the community and we’ve grown year on year,” he said.
“We started with MiniRoos and the 5-11 bracket across the last couple of years and we’ve grown in numbers.
“We’ve then at stages had under-17s and senior teams.”
The club got off to a rocky start with Covid meaning the first season was called off, before the second season ended early due to the pandemic.
Halloum said the community had supported what they were doing and that the club was more than just about playing sport.
“We’re a not-for-profit club that provides opportunities to those in Hobsons Bay to play organised sport and become part of the community,” he said.
“Our focus was on the children and young people who hadn’t played community sport.
“There’s a lot of young people in the area that have never played community sport. We want to make sure they have the right life skills and values, it’s not just about playing sport.”
Halloum said they’ve had some challenges with making sure their facilities are up to scratch, but received a grant last year which will help with upgrades at A.W Bond Reserve, while Football Victoria and Hobsons Bay council had been supportive.
He said the focus behind moving into the state league competition was to provide a pathway for their junior players.
Halloum said they were looking at having 15 sides this season across the bard.
“Our juniors look up to our senior players and they’ve trained alongside them,” he said. “The metro team did quite well.
“We’ve really looking forward to it.”
Halloum said they hadn’t set expectations for their state league side heading into the season but believed they would be competitive.
He said interest in the team had been high with pre-season starting this week.
“We think we can be competitive with the other teams,” he said. “We want to build in the right manner.
“We had great reception from the community for trials and we had some players with playing experience.
“There was interest from a lot of new players.
“We want to do well in state league 5 and it will help us continue to progress.”
