St Albans coach Ian Denny is looking to bounce back, after getting knocked out of last year’s finals series. 67889 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By Adem Saricaoglu
ST Albans coach Ian Denny believes his side can overcome last season’s disappointing finals campaign as it approaches the 2012 WRFL division one season.
The Saints bowed out of last year’s finals series after going down to the Port Melbourne Colts by 22 points in the elimination final.
Denny said it’s been a tricky pre-season so far, with four senior players moving to EDFL club Taylors Lakes over the break.
Those players are midfielders Daniel McFerran and Marc Dawson, forward Lachy Calder and utility Aaron Ford.
Denny said the club had been able to replace most of those players, and was now focused on recruiting new players for other parts of the ground. “We’re still looking for a ruckman, but apart from that, we still have one or two holes to fill in the midfield,” Denny said.
The club is again expecting to feature in the finals in 2012, and Denny said he was hoping to have a “healthy list” to choose from as the season goes on.
Denny also said he expected a handful of the club’s talented under-18s players to play senior football for the Saints this year. “We have got a few pretty good juniors, and we feel it’s pretty important to give them senior experience, so we’ll be doing that again this year,” he said.
Western Jets players Keanan O’Shea and Brandon Maniam both played senior football for St Albans in 2011.
