The season is now done and dusted, with all grades decided for 2024. Unfortunately for our Lara U18 boys, Grovedale proved too strong in the Div 2 GF, pulling away throughout the game to take the flag. Nevertheless,our young blokes fought it out to the end, showcasing the talent we have coming through into the senior program in the next couple of years. And congratulations to Leopold FNC and Grovedale FNC for winning the senior men’s and Div 1 senior women’s premierships respectively.

Lara had the rights to operate the bar for the GFNL men’s finals this year. Unfortunately, the weather was unkind (to say the least!),with the wind and rain proving a significant challenge at times. Well done to David Lindorff for leading the organising sub-committee, and to the Netball Section for providing great support. It will provide a nice addition to the club’s finances. Thanks to all volunteers for their support over the 3 weekends.

Last week saw our end-of-season Presentation Night for the senior men, senior women and U18 boys, and the senior and U19 netballers. It was a great night at the LSC, with a full house of players, coaches, officials, committee, volunteers and sponsors on hand. Well done to all award recipients and to the attendees for their respectful attention while the speeches and awards occurred.

The GFNL’s Mathieson Medal count also occurred last week.Congratulations to Daniel Weigl on making the GFNL Team the Year once again.

Turning to some announcements: we have appointed coaches for both the senior men’s and senior women’s squads for 2025. Brett Henderson will take the reins in the men, with 2025 planning, recruiting and meetings well underway. He is a proven developer of young talent, with substantial experiencein the VFL system. Club supporters may have already seen our announcements regarding Darby Henderson and Majak Daw.

In addition, we have appointed Taiya Morrow and Keeley Hardingham to co-coach the senior women. Taiya is a talented player who began at LFNC in the juniors, played Falcons and rose quickly in senior football to win numerous awards, including the League B&F in 2019, League Rookie of theYear in Div 1 in 2023 and League Team of the Year in 2023 and 2024. She will also play. Keeley has previously played for St. Josephs