Taylors Lakes are rapt with the work of Glenn Manton since the former AFL player joined the club. 80619_02 Picture: DAMIAN VISENTINI
By LIAM TWOMEY
HE has only pulled on the jumper three times but Glenn Manton is making friends fast at the Taylors Lakes Football Club.
The former Essendon and Carlton AFL footballer signed with the Lions on the eve of the season, leaving Western Regional Football League side Albion for the challenge of the Essendon District Football League.
Manton appears to be the missing piece of the puzzle for Taylors Lakes, which has an abundance of youth, but lacks some wise heads to lead the team.
Taylors Lakes’ president Troy Newton said the club was rapt to have Manton as a member of the club.
“He has been sensational since joining us. He has really good leadership and is just a great person to have around the club,” he said.
“We had been speaking to him for a while through some contacts and he felt like he might have needed a bit of a change from where he had been the last few years and he really liked what we were trying to do with the club with our young kids so thought we would be a pretty good fit for him.
“It’s great to have his sort of leadership and knowledge out on the field especially when we are trying to develop so many young kids week in week out.”
In just three games, Manton has found himself named in the best players twice as he quickly gets used to playing with a new group of team mates.
He has also proved a dangerous target in front of goal with a tally of two so far.
But it is more than just his ability as a player that is enduring him to the Lions’ faithful. One of the keys to Manton joining the club was his enthusiasm for helping Taylors Lakes support its young team.
“The younger guys in the firsts are really learning a lot. He is really good with them on game day with his leadership and really takes the time to explain to them what they are doing right or wrong or what they can work on,” Newton said.
“Last year we played all our young kids in A grade and we probably had an average age of 20 to 21 years every week so we want to keep getting games into them and building their experience so that hopefully in a few years when we go back up to A Grade they will be ready to go.”
Not everything went to plan for Manton or Taylors Lakes on Saturday with the club going down to Tullamarine by 53 points and Manton sent off during a tough clash.
