Sawtell FC expect their considered and measured approach to a rebuild of their elite roster will bring reward in 2021.
The Green Machine was in the mix right through last year’s Coast Premier League competitions – and steps have been taken to progress on that.
“We continue to be a young team and that’s the nature of it when you’re rebuilding in the top ranks,” club president Simon Portus said.
“We feel we are going to be competitive in both divisions this year – with 28 signed up, which is brilliant.
“We will have a much stronger squad overall – a better mix – whereas last year we probably didn’t quite have the depth in our reserves.”
The Scorpions like other clubs have been hampered in their preparations by the long wet on the coast, and field closures.
“We’ve had to train indoors and that can lead to more injuries because you can’t train in the same way and build the strength that you need,” Simon said.
A great acquisition for Sawtell has been a VEO camera which automatically records matches – making it easier to analyse post-game.
Inevitably, as is the case with younger players, there’s been some departures as people move away after finishing school, or for university.
“But we’ve got some returning players and we’ve picked up a couple from the NPL,” Simon said.
“We’ll have some depth this year where any of the reserves will be capable of playing first grade if that’s what they want to do.”