On the move … Jake De Sousa, pictured playing for Keilor last season, will suit up for Taylors Lakes in the EDFL. 51765 Picture: EMILY LANE
By Luke D’Anello
THE first priority for Essendon District Football League (EDFL) club Taylors Lakes will be to survive its first season in the competition’s top tier.
But the Lions, promoted after they claimed last season’s B Grade premiership, are also hopeful of sneaking up on a few teams along the way.
The club has confirmed the signings of Keilor pair Jake De Sousa and Aaron Ramsey, who both have VFL experience with Williamstown.
Another Seagulls-listed player, Trent Lee has also hooked up with the Lions after spending last season in the VFL reserves.
The talented trio will add a healthy dose of panache to the Lions’ line-up.
Jake is also the brother of current captain and last season’s B Grade best-and-fairest winner, Mark De Sousa.
The only noteworthy loss is that of Matt Morelli.
“To be perfectly honest, we don’t really know what we’re getting ourselves into. We’ve never played A Grade before. We like to think we’ve got a really good team, and we like to look at Oak Park last year (who made the finals after being promoted),” Taylors Lakes vice-president Mark Crowe said.
“From what we hear, we think we’re going to be able to mix it with Doutta Stars and Craigieburn.
“Hopefully, from there, we can be competitive with the bottom five or six.
“We don’t think we’re going to be terrible, but this is all new to us, so we’ll find out.”
Crowe said the club’s younger brigade also provided hope that the Lions’ stay in the top grade will not be a short one.
“We’ve got a number of really quality under-18s coming through, who we expect to play seniors.
“We’re just really excited about the opportunity to play A Grade. We’re getting really good numbers at training and the guys have been training really hard since November.
“All the guys are really, really eager to see how we go. We’re definitely testing ourselves.
“There’s a really good feeling around the place and we’re just really looking forward to mix it with arguably one of the strongest metropolitan comps in Melbourne and see how good these Maribyrnong Parks and Greenvales actually are.”
Lionheart Reserve has also been re-laid and Crowe is hopeful it will develop into one of the best surfaces in the league.
Taylors Lakes will begin its A Grade campaign against Aberfeldie on 9 April.
