MFL preview | Youthful Rumba ready to soar

Ins: Andrew Ralph (Undera), Malachi Atkinson (Returning), Rivva Karpany (Fitzroy Stars), Gundo Winmar (Tatura)

Outs: Clayton McCartney, Allan Norris (Fitzroy Stars)

Rumbalara sets up as an incredibly interesting proposition heading into season 2022, with a plethora of young talent and an exciting game plan sure to thrill crowds across Murray Football League.

Jason Traianidis continues as coach for another season and will be buoyed by the improvement his side showed last year, climbing up to sixth spot before the season was cut short by COVID-19.

With continued improvement the key for Rumba this season, Traianidis said he was confident his squad could compete with the best.

“We are going to be a young side with just a couple of old heads, but I am just looking forward to coaching the young group and trying to get them on a roll, sometimes with young blokes when they get going, they are hard to beat,” Traianidis said.

“Obviously this year we are looking to play finals again, it is what you play footy for, so the aim is to get up there and see what we can do.

“I blooded a few young blokes in the seniors last year as well, some 15 and 16-year-olds, so we will be keen to pump some more games into a few different guys and just get our talented young core some more experience.”

Joint best-and-fairest winners Kane Atkinson and Justin Terlich will lead the charge for Rumba on the field once again, with the pair set to receive great support from spearhead Ryan Lovegrove-Hudson and a group of exciting youngsters pushing up from the thirds.

“A lot of young guys are really standing out on the track, Ben McGowan who is a 15-year-old is probably one of the fittest I’ve got at the moment, and he is really putting his hand up to play a lot of senior footy this year,” he said.

“Kane Atkinson and Justin Terlich have had really good pre-seasons and are looking very fit, Steve Stallion is another one who has lost a few kilograms over the summer, so it is very promising from a coaching point of view to have our best players dominating on the track.”

As for what the fans can expect from this Rumba team, Traianidis said he would implement a relatively simple game plan which plays to his side’s offensive flair.

“We want to play just basic, defensive footy and beating our opponent first and then running off and creating,” he said.

“Our boys are pretty creative, so I don’t have to tell them what to do too much, they just play on their natural flair, the defensive part is what I’ve tried to work on over the last couple years and I feel we are really starting to see some improvement in that area.

“The teams that kick the most goals win at the end of the day, so that is what we are going to try and do.”