After winning its final six games in 2021, Laurimar is hoping to carry the momentum built last year into its 2022 campaign.
The Power last year sat second on the Heidelberg Golf Club Division 3 ladder with a 10-2 record before the season was cut short on the eve of the finals series – one the Power would have entered with confidence after handing ladder-leader South Morang its sole defeat in Round 13.
While it has been a long time between drinks since the last game of football was played, Laurimar is determined to continue its hot form from the previous year.
Speaking to NFNL.org.au, Power senior men’s football coach Jimmy Atkins believes his side is raring to go ahead of the upcoming season and said playing finals was the bare minimum.
“We are not going to shy away from that, we want to play finals,” Atkins said.
Not hiding from the spotlight, and with high ambitions, Atkins specifically wanted his side to aim for a top-two finish.
Laurimar has never won a senior men’s final in its short history and Atkins is determined to change that in 2022.
The Power will have to make some adjustments after losing star forward and 2021 competition leading goal kicker Josh Williamson to EFNL outfit Waverley Blues, while Ethan Gorski has transferred to Panton Hill after placing third in the best and fairest.
However, Atkins pointed to the addition of three-time Whittlesea premiership player Nathan Andrews and the return of emerging midfielder Ethan Frawley as players who could advance the Power this year.
“We’ve replaced and recruited pretty well,” Atkins said.
“Nathan Andrews from Whittlesea, he’s a genuine Division 1 player. Ethan Frawley’s come back (after he) spent some time at West Preston.
“There’s no doubt those two players (Williamson and Gorski), will leave a bit of a gap, but we believe we’ve got a bit of depth. We will reward a few younger kids and change the way we’ll play a little bit and that’ll help us.”
One thing Atkins believes is vital to a successful club is a professional culture and he said Andrews would help bring a winning attitude after 144 senior games with Whittlesea.
“One of the things we say when we want to recruit players to our club is to make sure they’re good people more than anything else,” Atkins said.
“I’ve known Nathan (Andrews) for a long time, so I knew he’d fit into this club.”
Laurimar held an intraclub on Sunday in its first proper hitout for the year.
Atkins said he was pleased with the efforts displayed during the game and said there were plenty of positive signs to take away.
“The younger kids were good, as per usual, Kaiden Arthur for example. Billy Lambert has played well, all the guys who had a crack last year.”
Atkins also praised the professionalism shown by the club’s leaders throughout the pre-season program.
“The leaders were fantastic. Luke Wilson, Mitch Thompson were awesome. Jacob Lawson, Josh Leather, they all haven’t missed a beat this pre-season. You can see today, the benefit of training hard. They played very, very well.”
Having only played 12 matches over the past two Covid-impacted years, Atkins said hitting the running track had been one of the club’s top priorities this summer.
“Fitness has been number one. We’ve definitely done a lot more fitness this pre-season than last.”
Atkins added that the club was hoping to introduce faster ball movement this campaign.
“It’s all about ball movement. We’ll be a lot quicker. We have a bit more run to our game plan this year, ball movement and running with the football a bit more.”
Laurimar has two practice matches lined up ahead of the start of the home and away season, with a match against Preston Bullants on March 6, and another against Nagambie to follow.
