Skipton president Andrew Bodman has sold some hope to supporters as the club works hard to fight its way out of the doldrums of the Central Highlands Football League.
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The Emus have just endured one of their worst years on record, with the senior side finishing the season without victory.
Greg Middleton was the big coup for Skipton during last off-season, but the flag-winning coach at Bungaree was unable to work any magic in his first year at the club.
He is currently working hard to recruit players to the club to avoid a repeat of the disastrous 2017 campaign that saw the Emus handed heavy defeats.
The club’s tough season also saw the premiership-winning A-grade netball team from 2016 tumble to a 15th-placed finish.
Bodman said Skipton had established a recruiting committee that was working hard on trying to build the playing stocks at the club.
During 2017, the Emus struggled to put a senior and reserves side on the park.
“There was a lot of work done last year, but sometimes you have some luck and sometimes you make your own luck,” Bodman said.
“But last year wasn’t a hugely successful recruiting year. We have taken a few more steps this year. We’ve been working harder even, with some more success than last. It’s looking better than last year at this stage.”
Bodman said the first priority had been to lure former Skipton players back to the club and expressed confidence about the senior side being more competitive in 2018.
He said last season didn’t help the club’s brand.
“That’s probably showing through with recruiting. You’ve got to be able to sell a story and we are starting from the bottom end,” Bodman said.
“We’ve just got to work a bit harder than everybody else.”
Bodman said while there wasn’t any concerns about the survival of the club, he admitted it would make things hard if the Emus were forced to move from their current home in the Central Highlands Football League to somewhere they couldn’t field a full compliment of junior football or netball sides.