Tara Murray
Altona won’t be the same team that won last year’s Western Region Football League division 1 premiership.
Several of the Vikings premiership stars have left the club in the off season for different reasons, meaning the list has been reshaped.
While coach Corey McCall said they were disappointed to have lost those players, they now see this season as an opportunity.
“We are going to be a different side this year,” he said. “We lost some experienced guys.
“I sat down with the club and discussed where the club is and spoke about what held Altona in good stead in the past.
“It’s something I’ve been big on, providing that pathway. It’s about sustainability of the club and the next premiership whenever that is, maybe this year or three or four years down the track.
“We want to be a sustainable club and stay as close to the top of the mountain as we can.”
McCall said there was plenty of exciting talent already in the club, that deserved opportunities.
He said there were five or six players who missed out on playing in the senior flag, who could consider themselves unlucky and be pushing to fill those spots left vacant.
He said there’s a number of juniors coming through as well.
“We had 16 Altona juniors in our premiership team,” he said.
“There’s lots of young guys, players in the 18s that need that pathway. The new guys we recruited to the club fit that as well.
“That is really big for us. We’ll look to play the kids.”
Those to depart the club included Elliot Cavallaro, Jack Norman, Kelly Pickard, Mitch Turnbull and Kevin Johnson. Steven Kennedy has retired, while Taylor Whitford is set to have limited availability as he starts his Victorian Football League coaching journey.
Saad El-Hawli and Spencer Johnson are also both on the Northern Bullants’ VFL list.
“We’re lost a lot of experience,” he said.
“We’ve tried to look to recruit long term recruits who have years of football to come.
“Jake Whybrow has been good in the practice matches and Jye Formosa could still play 18s.
“Andre Coutinho is a recent recruit and has done well in the practice matches and Cooper Atchison is another one that is still young.
“Nathan Clarke is from Wodonga and has moved down to Melbourne.”
McCall said players like Sam Paton were set to have more of an impact this season, having had to work hard for his spot the last couple of years.
Coming off the premiership, the Vikings have a slightly tougher draw than some other teams in the eight team competition.
He said it would be different with no Deer Park and St Albans.
“We want to win enough games to play finals,” he said.
“You can win three games and play off in a grand final. We’ll look to play that same quality football.
“Hopefully we’ll be playing our best footy towards the end of the season.”
