MERNDA could be without its captain and reigning Northern Football League Division 2 best and fairest Rohan Davies for most of the 2014 season.
In a huge blow to the Demons premiership hopes, Davies has joined the army and is expected to miss a large part of the campaign because of his duties.
Mernda coach Brett Wilson said it was difficult to predict how many games Davies would play.
“He’s at the peril of the army because of what they tell him,” Wilson said.
“He’s gone off to be a rifleman. He’s right into his fitness and all that sort of stuff, so he loves it.
“He’s got a seven-week stint at the minute, so we’ve just got to wait and see what happens.”
Wilson said Davies would leave a difficult void to fill for the Demons if he was unavailable most weeks.
He said Davies chances of playing rested on where he was stationed by the army, with a decision still weeks away.
“He is tough to replace, but he is just one person,” he said.
“We don’t just build a side around one person.
“I think the one good thing was he led from the front and the way he went about his footy a lot of kids looked up to him.”
Davies has won two league best-and-fairest awards in the past two seasons, winning the Division 3 award during a successful 2012 campaign for the Demons before being crowned Division 2’s best player last year.
Wilson said he expected to have a better idea of Davies availability in April.
Meanwhile, Wilson said competition for spots in the club’s senior side would be strong after confirmation of a string of off-season recruits.
Wilson said he expected about 20 new players would pull on the blue, red and white jumper this season.
Despite the high number of recruits, Wilson said he didn’t expect it to take long for the club’s new signings to jell.
He said Josh Delaney, who has rejoined the club after a serious neck injury threatened his career, had been training strongly ahead of his return to football.
This article is courtesy of Leader Newspaper.
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