The Stawell Warriors have locked in its first official practice match with the squad set to host North Ballarat at North Park next month.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
With the earlier than usual start for the team, due to Good Friday being at the end of March, Warriors coach Colin Macaffer said the team will only have time for one preseason hit-out.
“We are most likely just going to stick with the one prior to round one,” he said.
“The first match is on March 30 which makes it hard to do too much before then.
“We have another practice match set for the break after round one against Lake Wendouree with the club scheduled to have five weeks before its first and second game of the season.
“You can look at these things as a positive, whether we win or lose in round one, we can identify some things that need to be worked on and we will have five weeks to fine tune any weaknesses up to our strength.”
Overall, Macaffer is happy with where the squad is at with numbers increasing in recent weeks.
“We are starting to gel, we have some new players in there and we are starting to get the numbers up at training,” he said.
“With round one then five weeks off, it is a little bit earlier for the players but there is no doubt they are fit enough on the track and we just need to get them match fit now.”
Macaffer said he is confident the new game plan will hold up for the Wimmera Football League season.
“Some of the new ideas are always difficult to get the players to buy in to, but the leadership group and the coaching group are confident the game plan that will hold up during the season,” he said.
“We are in pretty good shape health wise and we are looking forward to the season.”