By LIAM TWOMEY
THE 2014 Western Region Football League season is shaping up as one of the most interesting in the league’s history. As well as the battle for top honours in Division One, there are a number of sub-plots set to play out throughout the season.
Across Divisions One and Two, 17 new coaches will take the reins in round one.
After round 13, the bottom six teams in Division Two will make up the newly created Division Three.
For the second successive year, the WRFL will also have a brand new club with the Tarneit Titans making their debut.
However, league CEO Bob Tregear isn’t taking his eyes off the future.
After a lot of hard work, he and his board have got the league going upwards at a rate of knots and they are keen to continue the trend.
One of their key goals during the next few years is to continue expanding the league with Tregear nominating a number of possible locations for new clubs.
“It (the formation of new clubs) will happen in the new development areas,” Tregear said.
“In Wyndham it will be places like Williams Landing and Truganina where there are new developments. We are also looking further north and, as the Melton corridor develops south, we will also be looking to develop clubs there.”
However, the league is making sure it isn’t focusing on expansion to the detriment of its current clubs.
Tregear added that finding a way to help struggling clubs is a key priority.
“We are talking to AFL Victoria about how to do that at the moment,” Tregear said.
“It is really a matter of having enough financial resources to do that. Some of those clubs really need some on-the-spot help.
“It is going to take time and money to do that but we need to find a way to achieve that and raise the funds to do it.
“We are very confident that we will keep all of the clubs we have got and we will be able to develop some new ones as well.”
Building on the expanding senior competition, the WRFL is also enjoying healthy growth in the juniors.
The league is expecting at least six new junior teams to compete in the competition this season.
Its only area of concern is the under-18 grade, which had just 14 teams last year.
“The under-18s will be the challenge,” Tregear said.
“We were down to 14 teams last year and we are hoping for 16 or 17 this year. We really need to have about 24.
“It took a dive last year so it is up one year down the next. It’s not enough to say it is a trend. I think it creates a challenge for everybody.”
