The core group of players are hungrier than ever and with some off-season recruiting, the theme around preseason training has been unfinished business.

The senior football team finished third on the Wimmera League Football Netball League 2021 ladder but is looking for improvement in 2022.

Club president Shane Field said the players have stuck together and have the confidence in themselves that they could take it up to the best in the competition.

"Most of the boys came back from their offseason in good condition after completing their own fitness programs and have hit the ground running to put in a solid pre-season," Field said.

"After losing a couple of players early on, the football department has been concentrating on targeting the positional players that we required to push as deep as we can into finals.

"We also went out to strengthen up our bottom six and making sure our senior squad bats deeper.

"There appears to be a real buzz around the whole club, especially with many of our teams not able to play finals due to Covid. Everyone is excited to get back into playing."

OTHER NEWS:

Leading goalkicker Cody Driscoll has headed back to Navarre for the 2022 season, which will leave a void in the Warriors' forward line.

"His presence demanded the attention from opposition backlines," Field said.

"However, it now gives other players the chance to stand up and take their opportunities.

"It also gives our side a reason not to have tunnel vision, allowing us to be more unpredictable and damaging."

Along with Driscoll, Jay Moody has decided to head over to the Grasshoppers. As both players were struck by injury in 2021 the Warriors still managed to find ways to fill the voids that ultimately led to nine wins for the season.

In 2022, Field said the focus would be on giving players the opportunity to develop and build on skills.

"The goal in the senior group has been to keep driving our standards upwards and developing our players into being solid senior footballers," he said.

"We had so many players last season step up to play their first full year of senior football that it's just a matter of using that as a stepping stone for those players to build on, which will only make our team stronger."

Due to the lack of games played in the previous two seasons, many clubs around regional Victoria have voiced their concerns about the lack of numbers in junior ranks.

Field said the Warriors were doing everything in its power to ensure that wasn't the case for the Stawell-based club.

"It's just a matter of getting kids back into playing footy," he said.

"Everyone knows the kids are the future of our clubs so it's vital to keep them on the field and being competitive.

"So, our goal for our juniors is to keep developing them and have them ready to go to step up to senior footy if and when required."

Field said players to watch in 2022 would be Sam Williams, Sam Jenkinson, Paul Summers, George Manton and Jack Walker.

Stawell Warriors 2022 coaching panel: Tom Eckel (Seniors), Shane Bibby (Res), Tom Fitzgerald (ass Res), Rhett Mellor (U17's), Jamie Bach (ass U17's), Paul Summers (ass U17's), Shannon Notting (U14's), Jarrod Illig (ass U14's).

Ins: Jarrod Stafford, Mitch Thorp, David Morris, John McIntyre

Outs: Cody Driscoll, Jay Moody, Angus Barham, Trent Driscoll

While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox from the Stawell Times-News. To make sure you're up-to-date with all the news from across the region, sign up here.