We're speaking to every club about their preparations for what will be one of the biggest premiership seasons in living memory. After two years ruined by the COVID-19 pandemic, this year promises to be one of recovery as our Saturday afternoon pastime returns in 2022.

As always, if you love the game, the place to go to for your Ballarat netball and football fix is The Courier.

Today we speak to another six clubs about their preparation for the new season - Creswick, Daylesford, Dunnstown, Gordon, Hepburn and Learmonth.

Scroll down to read about all the preparations of these six clubs and listen in to each club's coach as they talk about the season ahead exclusively with The Courier.

Part one of our preview is here

Coach: Dean Romeril

Captain: TBD

Coach's comment: My expectation in my first year is to improve on last year. I'm not expecting us to be worldbeaters and I'm very realistic about where we're at. I think we're going to surprise a few sides. We've got a very young list so there's going to be weeks where we come out and play some very well and then some weeks where you don't turn on. I was on board in 2020, but there was no footy. In 2021 I stepped away from the game to look after my own business. Initially we'd planned this to be a joint role with incumbent Ryan Knowles, but the committee had a shake up so Ryan took on the presidency, so I'm taking on the coaching role on my own. I work a lot with my players to have respect for each other, opposition and the whole club. It's a big driving force for me. My game style depends on the players we've got, but as a coach's philosophy I like to work on that respect level. I don't like the carry on, I try to be more directive. There is a lot of movement going out towards Creswick, hopefully we can start to build a strong base there. We've got a bit of a lull in under-18s, but we have a great group of under-15s and under-12s. We got a great group coming out of the under-18s - eight of those guys going into senior footy this year.

Strengths: Probably our smalls. We've got some small guys who are very quick and the pressure they put on, especially forward. That's something we've been working on. Hopefully they'll be able to create that pressure we need. We're not a big side so we have to go away from the long down the line stuff and play to those strengths more.

Most improved: This will come from that group of eight coming up from the under-18s to be honest. Dane Whitfield is a strong midfielder. He's going to learn a lot this year. He's one of those guys who'll have days when he's really on. Bodie Glover is another in that group. He's going to be a fantastic proposition for the club.

What to get excited about: I'm very positive. My background originally is working with under-18s so I enjoy the challenge of working with young guys. That's my strength in a transition period. I want to build on that and when I'm done leave the club in a better position than when I found it. That's all I can ask to achieve.

Coach: Hamish Jarrod

Captain: Trent Nesbitt and Ben Jones

Coach's comment: The aim is to improve on our position from last year. To be honest, it's a massive unknown for us and I think it's the same for a lot of clubs at the minute based on the past two years,. We won't really know until we get into the season exactly where we are at or how we are going. We'll look for improvement from within, particularly our younger brigade. We've got five or six blokes in the under-18 to under-21 bracket who haven't had a chance to play a lot of footy. I think they will s have the chance to develop really quickly. We've put a lot of time into them over the summer and as a club moving forward we want to try to keep the playing group for an extended period. We'll have a fairly similar playing list. We've replaced what we've lost well, I think perhaps there's even a little bit more talent if I'm honest. The key with young kids is to keep them fresh and eager physically and mentally, and that's how we'll get the most out of them. We've played a couple of practice games to prepare for Gordon and Hepburn in rounds one and two. We played Kyneton and while it might have given us a touch up we learned a lot about how good teams set up. We also had a hit-out against Lancefield and we went pretty well. It was good for the boys to play a team they were able to get some confidence up. It's a tough start, but it's good to know where we are at early in the year.

Strengths: I think our talls will be our strengths. We have a fairly solid key position line and half-back line, where we've got pretty good rebounding from if we are playing our system correctly. We'll play a couple of different methods depending on who we're playing and what we're doing, but our main strengths have to be our competitiveness at the contest. We'll look to gain territory and defend behind it, that will always be the focus, but we'll also look to go quick, play tempo, there will be a few elements to it.

Most improved: There are probably four of them to be honest, - Adam Nasser, Lukey Hallett, Eli Connell and Shaun Naylor. We've put a fair bit of time into them. If we are going to take that next step and push into the bottom of the eight, there are they ones who'll need to take a stand.

What to get excited about: I reckon there's up to 14 teams who could make the eight based on what we saw last year. What we found last year with this competition is that when you lose those close games, it just makes such a difference to where you finish. We lost five or six games by less than a couple of goals and finished in the bottom third, It's a matter of taking those opportunities throughout the year. If you don't someone else will. I'm excited to have a crack at it, have a group you can have a proper pre-season with. I've been at the club three years and we're now supposedly three years into our three-year rebuild.

Coach: Glenn Wilkins

Captain: Ben Collins

Coach's comment: We're very happy with our pre-season. We've had healthy numbers and the boys seem pretty keen so, very happy. We were happy with last season, but we know the competition is only going to get stronger and we can't afford to rest on our laurels. We're looking to continue to improve and hopefully get ourselves at the pointy end of the ladder which obviously gives you every chance of doing well in the back end of the season. I felt more disappointed for the boys last season. I know how much work they put in only to have the season abruptly end the way it did. It was the same for every club which managed to finish in the top eight. All would have felt same way we did. Hopefully this year we get a full season without too many interruptions and we can gauge how well we have come on.

Strengths: Defensively we've always been pretty good behind the footy and I don't think that will change. We'e sort of focused on building up the depth of our list and we feel we've done. That will just add to competition for spots which was probably missing last year. I think overall we're a pretty even side We don't rely on too many big name individual players. Everone plays his role and it did hold us in good stead last year where we managed to win games through a good even team performance.

Most improved: There's a couple, Mitch Henderson has had a another ripping pre-season, I'm looking forward to seeing what he can bring. Flynn Stephenson had his first senior season last year He seems to have bulked up and got fitter. He's been training pretty well.

What to get excited about: It's a really good vibe around the place, with everybody pretty keen It's hard to imagine that the season is only (one) week away. It's snuck up on us to be honest. You've got to make sure you start well and play some good footy off the bat as it makes it a lot easier to keep guys interested in motivated when the real grind happens. We've got Buninyong, Gordon and Hepburn to start, so that will give us a good chance to see exactly where we are at and what we need to improve on.

Coaches: Adam Toohey and Ron Watt

Captain: TBD

Coach's Comment: We're pretty excited. We've lost three or four and picked up three or four to go with the young guys who showed a lot last year. It'll be great to see them continue to build on the 10 games or so they had. We're pretty bullish about the season ahead. We lost two half backs and picked up one from Bacchus Marsh in Sam Griffiths. Full forward Ash Munari will be hard to replace, but we'll try and to do that from within. Billy Griffiths and Riley Munari are big additions for us. AFL experienced James Kelly and Shannon Byrnes are hopeful of playing when they are available - when Geelong plays on a Thursday, Friday or Sunday. Hopefully they will play a few games for the season. I think we have 50 guys who are keen to play in terms of the list.

Strengths: We want to be hard at the contest and really quick to spread and beat teams on the outside and the inside. We're young and a team which is hopefully going to be having a lot of fun.

Most improved: A lot of our young guys have had opportunities. I think we had 36 play the 10 games last year. One who's come out of the juniors is Lachie Reynolds. He's won a couple of under-18 league goalkicking awards and has played one or two senior games,. He's one who'll look to build on that. He'll probably play high up the ground and on the wing. We've got a group of guys who have probably played 15-20 senior games who are 21 or 22 years-old. I'm really excited to see them take the next step.

What to get excited about: We've had most of this group for a few years. They're been ready to go and are ready to go again. COVID-19 has meant an opportunity postponed, so that's the belief we're going to try to roll in with for the season. Hopefully it works.

Coach: Mitch Banner

Captain: TBD

Coach's comments: While I've been around the Ballarat Football League for a number of years I don't know much about the Central Highlands, I know enough though. The luxury for myself coming in fresh and open minded is I've been able to look at some guys that might not have had the opportunities in the past. Being able to help the young kids along and get them back into footy is a huge driving force for me. They've probably played 10 games in two years, so seeing that excitement for everyone is great. We lost a couple, namely big goalkicker Sam Dunstan. We basically need to find a number of goals from a number of players to fill the gap. Rather than replacing 80 in one go, let's gets six guys to kick 15 goals. We want multiple goalkickers rather than one focal point. We want to be dynamic up forward and find goals from everywhere. We've gained a really good ruckman in Shaun Tye, a VFL premiership player for Williamstown. We also have some good young kids. The goal is to look within and develop what we have. Our list has a lot of potential. We also have a lot of senior guys who have played in premierships going round again, so it's a matter of mixing the young with the old and finding the right balance.

Strengths: My main philosophy is to play with excitement, fun and energy. That's what I've tried to instill in the guys in the short time I've been here. If you're playing with enjoyment and are happy to be around one-another, that's when you play your best footy. If you see that on-field, that's when you will see Hepburn playing its best footy. When the chips are down, we know they will be okay and continue to play with that spark and excitement.

Most improved: I believe we've got some really good young kids across the board, but the two who have really stood out are Jimmy Wallace and Zac Kapusch. Wallace will play a lot of footy down back, but can play across the ground. Kapusch is in a similar mould and will likely start down back with the potential to play forward and midfield.

What to get excited about: It's a really exciting time for the club and Victorian football as a whole, especially for young kids who have been starved of footy for the past two years .For guys around the under-18 level and have missed two years of senior footy, just seeing them get back out on the park and enjoying playing with one another is really exciting. I'm sure that's the same across the board. It's great to be able to get back out on the park again.

Coach: Nick Willox

Captain: Jason Rae

Coach's comment: We're excited after losing of a lot of footy. We're keen as mustard to know we're going to have a full season. Our pre-season has been good. We've retained probably 95 per cent of our list, which was our first goal. What players we have lost have been able to be replaced. We've continued to bring in youth which we've been developing over the past couple of years and some other role players who have been connected to the club in some way. It's a good feel around the place. We've got a good list in terms of depth, which we haven't had the past few years. We just need to win games of footy. Experience will be a big thing for us. We've had a lot of juniors of late and perhaps that's impacted on our decision-making and hardness around the contest. We need to start turning those losses in our favour.

Strengths: It'll be our hardness around the contest. We've got a few guys back that will help us do that That's what we've lacked the past few years, so if we can get the contest right, getting in first for the footy and putting pressure on the opposition from the outset that will hold us in good stead for the rest of the game. From there, I've given the guys a lot of freedom to move the footy on instinct.

Most improved: There's a handful there. We've probably had 18 kids between 18-19 years play senior footy, so there's a handful that will be ready to step up and it will come down to how they perform as to how they go there. There's a lot of really exciting kids there.

What to get excited about: Last year having one week on, two weeks off was just no good for anyone. We've got in our 16 weeks of pre-season in and we're just really excited for each week because you can plan it week-by-week, month-by-month and actually get some structure behind the season. I think all the guys will be better for it. The guys that have been around the mark might have fallen off a little bit, but now they are excited, they are hungry and done the hard work. The guys just want to get into it and play footy really. That's all anyone wants to do.

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