FOREST HILL Junior Football Club president Brendan McKenna speaks to Maddi Vantarakis as his club prepares for the 2014 season.
Image Credit: Eastern Football League
Also available online via the Eastern Football League.
Maddi Vantarakis: Overall, were you satisfied with what the club achieved, both on and off the field, in 2013?
Brendan McKenna: Absolutely! We won 100 per cent of the premierships we contested in! A lot of happy kids and a lot of happy families, so absolutely we were thrilled and all the kids improved from the start to the end of the year. That’s what we set out to do and we were absolutely thrilled with the outcome.
Approximately how many teams do you think you will field in 2014?
We’ll be fielding four teams and an Auskick on Friday nights. They’ll be Under 9, 10, 13 and 15.
What has the feeling been like around the club over the pre-season?
Well the older boys [Under 15’s] have been training since October, so they’re very well prepared and they’ve got very good numbers. They’re very happy with life. There’s a few new recruits, so we’ll be looking good. Of course we’re going to have to be a bit better because we’ve moved up a grade.
Under 13’s are pretty strong, they won a flag again. They’ve got a challenge ahead of them, but they’ve got a couple of new kids too. So everyone’s happy there.
And then we’ve got a lot of little kids who want to play footy in the Under 9’s and 10’s. We need a few more in those groups so we have enough to keep us going. So we’re very positive and there’s a lot of enthusiasm!
If you had to pick one, which team do you think is the club’s best chance of winning a premiership this season?
There’s only really two because the others are non-competitive, but I would think the Under 13’s and the Under 15’s. Both are up a grade this year, so they’re going to have to prove themselves. We hope they do and if so they’ll probably get close again. That’s the challenge; they’ve got to keep getting better.
But we don’t really care about the premierships to be truthful. We just want the kids to be as good as they can be – that’s what we’re striving for.
Is there a particular age group of players that you need as soon as possible to fill a team ahead of Round 1?
We need players in all of them – I mean we have enough to field teams, but new players are always welcome. We’ll fit them in wherever we can. But it’s the Under 9’s and 10’s, the younger age groups where it’s not competitive, where we need them. Here you’ve got a bit more flexibility, so we can use as many of them as possible.
If any players are interested in playing for Forest Hill Junior Football Club this season, what do they have to do?
They can go to www.zebras.org.au – that’s a brand-new website, in fact it’s only probably been published in the last day or so, so it’s pretty good. Or they can ring me on 0421 583 070, or send an email to the club email address: foresthilljnr@efl.org.au. So you can contact us in all those ways and we’d very much welcome you!
There’s three things we really try and achieve: opportunity to play, having fun and improving. We try and make sure they all get an opportunity to play, so any kid that come to us will absolutely get an opportunity as long as they abide by our rules and they all have some fun doing so! We’ve got some pretty good coaches, so they will improve. They’re the things we really like to emphasize.
Maddi Vantarakis 