By LIAM TWOMEY
HILLSIDE Football Club is planning for a bright future.
The Sharks have been involved in a busy off-season with new president Scott Absolum joined by a new committee.
On field, former Essendon premiership player Alan Ezard will coach the seniors, as the club looks to make the move from B Grade to A Grade. Absolum said he and the new committee had laid out a five-year plan, which will begin immediately. “Because the EDFL is looking to branch into the C Grade competition we have done quite a bit of recruiting this year,” Absolum said.
“We have signed probably 10 guys in the off-season. A lot of them live locally as well and they were playing at other clubs so it’s good to have been able to go out and bring them back to where they have grown up. “First and foremost we need to stay out of C Grade. If we go there that will put us back three or four years.”
One of the main reasons the Sharks are so desperate to avoid C Grade is the potential for other A Grade clubs to poach their talented juniors. Hillside boasts an outstanding junior program with both numbers and talent bursting at the seams. The club also has 12 players in Western Jets’ training squads.
“We owe it to our juniors not to be a C Grade club. They are providing a really strong base and we’ve got a lot of juniors who are in representative teams,” Absolum said.
Hillside would like to encourage players, supporters or anyone from the community to attend the club’s charity match on 31 March with all proceeds going towards prostate cancer research.
