Outs: Todd Lawrence (Seymour), Tom Martin (Seymour), Max McLean (Seymour), Jake Anderson (Port Melbourne), Paul Scanlon (Port Melbourne)
Building steadily during the past three seasons, the time is now for Avenel to take the final step and break its 28-year premiership drought.
Spearhead Kasey Duncan continues as coach at Avenel Recreation Reserve and has an imposing arsenal at his disposal filled with an exciting band of recruits and an existing core of up-and-coming players keen to take their game to the next level.
Only losing the one game last season, which was good enough for a second-placed finish when the season was abruptly shut down, Duncan said his squad was as determined as ever to resume its position atop the Kyabram District League tree.
“There is a fair bit of excitement around the group, we have plenty of numbers, the depth of the group has been fairly strong right the way through and we welcome a host of new players who have fitted in seamlessly,” Duncan said.
“We take plenty of confidence out of how we performed last year, we were able to play the footy we wanted to and win some big games, and the challenge is putting that together again and getting better.
“The boys are pumped; it’s been a long time since we have played and everyone is just champing at the bits to get back out there and hopefully pick up where we left off.”
Tim Karolidis headlines the list of additions at the Swans with his Goulburn Valley League experience sure to bolster this already potent line-up, while former Melbourne Storm rugby league talent Sandor Earl prepares for a code change with his elite sporting experience an added bonus.
Throw in the continued growth of reigning best-and-fairest winner Braydon Avola and the continued production of Duncan up forward and the sky is the limit for what this group can achieve.
“Our goal as always is to finish in that top two, we are blessed with great depth and I feel we are in a great spot to achieve big things this year,” he said.
