Rennie football coaches Jake Stevenson, Chase Strawhorn, Terry Lonergan, Neal Hemphill, (front) Adam Nish, Jarryd Fountain and Matt Wilson are gearing up for the 2024 season with an exciting brand of football to ensue.
Photo by
Les_Garbutt
Plenty of green and white has been seen on the training paddock for Rennie over the summer months with great numbers turning up to preseason at Yarrawonga College P-12.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
The Rennie Hoppers are gearing up for the season to kickstart on April 6, with all grades of football and netball looking promising heading into the season proper.
This season sees Rennie favourite Jarryd Fountain at the helm of the seniors in his first senior coaching stint after taking the reins from Harry Haley.
“We have had not too bad numbers at training so far, it has been pretty consistent,” Jarryd said.
“Before Christmas and beginning this year we have been getting between 20 and 35 blokes.
“We lost a few from last year but have essentially picked up what we lost.
“We have signed Connor Hargreaves as a ruck, Ryan Byrnes as a midfielder, Jack Welsh as a ruck forward, Joe Magro as a forward and Lach Dwyer.
“We are looking for more excitement this year. We want to play a more exciting brand of football and just have maximum enjoyment.
“You can’t speculate too much throughout preseason cause anything can happen, but we are pleased with everything and looking forward to the season starting.”
The reserves are also in trusted hands with Adam Nish returning for his third year while member Jake Stevenson has stepped up to help the team grow and will join Adam in taking the reigns of the twos.
Loyal Hoppers Chase Strawhorn and Terry Lonergan will be at the helm of the Under 17s, Neal Hemphill returns to the club to take on the Under 14s and Matt Wilson will lead the charge on the fifths.
“Most nights for the seniors and twos we have been getting decent enough numbers as we have a pretty big list,” Adam Nish said.
“Numbers for the season are looking good and the list is shaping up.”
“For the thirds, we haven’t started training yet as our first run will be in a couple of weeks but we have a good core group and some exciting kids coming up from the fourths and fifths,” Terry Lonergan said.
2024 Rennie netball coaches Kayla Johnson, Celine Collins Bye, Brooke McDougall, Sarah Dowling, Amy Smith, (front) Ebony Williams, Illa Crawford, Haylee Wilson and Sheryl McBurnie are hopeful of more premiership glory on the court this year. (Absent – Rach Guppy and Tegan Lee.)
Photo by
Les_Garbutt
This preseason has been impressive on the court so far for the Rennie netballers with great numbers at training as the girls count down the days until the start of the season.
This year has seen a lot of new faces to the club with several regular faces also returning in the green and white and looking to improve on 2023 results.
Several A Grade girls have moved away for university or work opportunities with developing players and ladies in the other grades stepping up for the senior squad.
The juniors are looking very strong with fantastic numbers at training and all squads full after claiming three premierships in 2023 with the club looking to add to it this season.
On the sidelines the Hoppers have an exciting line up of coaches with a number returning and a few new faces stepping into the roles.
The 2024 senior coaches of the Hopperettes are A Grade – Kayla Johnson, B Grade – Celine Collins Bye and Brooke McDougall, C Grade – Sarah Dowling and C Res – Rachel Guppy and Amy Smith.
Junior coaches are Under 17s – Ebony Williams and Tegan Lee, Under 15s – Illa Crawford, Under 13s – Haylee Wilson and Under 11s and net, set go - Sheryl McBurnie.
A Grade coach Kayla Johnson said the A Grade will look a little different this year but across the board, Rennie are looking forward to the upcoming season.
“A lot of our A Grade from last year have gone off to uni but we hope to have some of them back from time to time,” Kayla said.
“We have some great experience returning to the court and we are excited with the development of the netball club.
“We have a strong B Grade this year which is also great for the senior competition.
“Our focus this year is really to get back to basics and just have fun. We have some really great role models here this year too so it will be a year to really just focus on our game.
“We are feeling fresh for the season!”
Trials for the remaining positions in the Rennie Netball Club will start in February at Vic Park before the Hoppers make their way out to Rennie.
Rennie junior, player, coach and volunteer Brooke McDougall has stepped into the netball president role this year and is looking forward to what RNC has in store for the 2024 season.
“Training has been more of a get together which has been great, especially this time of the year before the season and even preseason proper kicking off,” Brooke said.
“Numbers have been really good, especially in the juniors with more turning up each week.
“We are hoping to have at least one preseason match but that is still in the pipelines at the moment.
“We’re just excited for season 2024 with spirits high for what is to come.”
The seniors and reserves will play two practice matches with the annual Peter Murphy Cup to be played on March 16 before taking on Wahgunyah on March 23.
The Hoppers 2024 campaign kicks off with Rennie at home to ‘cross-town’ rival Tungamah on April 6.
13°C