Panton Hill men’s football coach Simon Amore believes an injection of youth can push his side higher up the MC Labour Division 2 ladder in 2022.
The Redbacks will enter their second-consecutive year in the NFNL’s second tier after a solid 2021 season, which saw them finish in eighth place on the ladder.
Panton Hill will be taking the field with a relatively different senior side this season and has targeted younger players to replace its departing stars.
Among those who won’t be lining up for the Redbacks this year is premiership skipper Mitch Anderson, who has joined Beechworth with defender Brent Ryan.
Key forwards Matthew Byron (Eltham) and Mitch Merkel (Greensborough) have also departed, while midfield duo Scott Conte and Matthew Fowler have retired.
Speaking to NFNL.org.au, Amore said opportunities would be given to the club’s emerging players and is confident playing a younger side will pay dividends in the long term.
“We had a bit of reasonable turnover the last couple of months, and it wasn’t unexpected,” Amore said.
“They’re a bit of an older group but were pretty new to me when I signed on just after their 2019 premiership and they probably had a year or two left in them. And unfortunately given what we’ve been through for the last two years that was for the most part taken away from us.
“We made a real concerted effort to get younger this year. With our football club we don’t have that infrastructure of juniors propping up to the senior club every year, so we do rely on those friendship groups to come through and give us that next wave.
“It was pretty evident that the playing group was getting a little bit older, and we needed to regenerate.
“We’ve been confident that we’ve been able to do that and looking towards the mid to long-term for the football club to establish itself in Division 2.”
Amore said the club had hoped to have an under-19 side this year but had unfortunately fallen just short after doing a mountain of work behind the scenes to put a team together.
However, he said a positive outcome had still arisen, with many players who had committed to the under-19 team opting to stay with the club, which included several prospective senior players.
“We had 10-15 players in that group that had put their hand up to stick with the football club and play reserves football,” Amore said.
“[However] within that group there will be two or three that will definitely get a taste at senior football this year.”
Panton Hill has also recruited young St Mary’s defender Nathan Jasper and Laurimar’s Ethan Gorski, who finished third in the Power’s best and fairest in 2021.
They have also signed Diamond Creek tall Oli Parks, who will link up to play with his brothers Sam and Nick, both of whom are best and fairest winners with the Redbacks.
“It’s incredibly exciting for me as a coach and the football club too to have the three boys playing together,” Amore said.
“They’re just as excited as anybody to finally get an opportunity to play senior football together.”
Whilst playing with his brothers was a major factor in Parks joining Panton Hill, Amore said the opportunity to play further up the field also contributed.
“There’ll be opportunities for him to be a regular midfielder for us. He’ll start there and dictate how long he wants to stay in there pretty much,” Amore said.
“We’ll probably rest him deep forward at points as well given his size and presence. You can pretty much put him anywhere on the ground, but we’re really excited to play him primarily through the midfield.”
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Amore confirmed Western Bulldogs AFLW player Deanna Berry would be back as an assistant in 2022, while 2013 premiership coach Dean Haydock has also returned to the club in a coaching role.
“(Deanna’s) totally invested. She controls our midfield and forward line as we do have a number of guys like most teams do that will float through both lines, so Deanna has complete control over that,” Amore said.
“She’s been a wonderful contributor to the football club already and we’re excited to keep her on board.
“I actually played under Dean a few years back and he’s going to add another string to the bow in that area as well so we’re pretty excited with the coaching staff we’ve put together off field.”
Panton Hill has taken on Old Eltham Collegians and EDFL outfit Craigieburn in practice matches, ahead of hosting Eltham at Cracknell Reserve in the opening round.
Amore said the club was excited by the prospect of taking on one of the competition’s leading contenders to kick off the season.
“It’ll be a test for us. We’ve got a young side who’s really getting to know each other, but we’ll know where we stand pretty quickly after Round 1,” Amore said.
“I think we’re really excited for that challenge and looking forward to it.”
