Great Northern Football League clubs make moves in off-season as premiers Brigades look to develop from within

With pre-season approaching, the Guardian takes a look at what the Great Northern Football League’s top four clubs have been up to in the off season — revealing a variety of tactics for recruiting and development. Many of the clubs were looking to bring through young players, and some have kept their back-office team together while others have brought new faces on board. There have also been some notable player departures, while clubs said they were hoping to recruit new talent. Brigades After clinching the flag in 2021, Brigades coach Cory Foot said the Hawks planned to go into 2022 with a relatively stable league side and look to continue the development of promising youngsters in the hope they would push through. “We’ll pretty much keep the same team,” Foot said. “We’ll get some kids to hopefully step up this year like they did last year. “We don’t have any big names or crew (in mind for recruitment). “We want to focus on internal (development). “We’ve got a good junior core group and we’d like to give them the opportunity, although if someone came to town for work or something we’d be more than happy for them to come and play.” Foot said the hope was young players like Izac Ronan, Jordan O’Brien and Llewyn Valli, who all played at least nine league matches last season, would all form part of the core of the team going forward. “There are about five or six of them,” he said. “These sort of guys have played 50 games of colts, and some have won a premiership.” The club lost Jed Hagan, who has moved to Perth after finishing high school ahead of an expected first-round move in the 2022 AFL draft. Hagan had previously been splitting his time between East Fremantle and the Hawks. Ethan Paholski, who shone last season, has also moved to the Sharks. “I’m hoping he gets an opportunity down at East Freo,” Foot said. Railways There have been wholesale changes at the Blues, the runners-up for the past two seasons. Nathan Tubby has hung up his playing jumper and stepped up to replace Craig Butler as club president. Matthew Powell will be coach, replacing Karl Pirrottina, who has moved to the Kimberley. Powell played with the Blues in the 2000s and was an assistant to football great Barry Kimberley, voted the GNFL’s best coach in its first 60 years last season. He will be assisted by John Reynolds, a former winner of the league best-and-fairest JJ Clune Medal with the club. Tubby said there should not be too many changes to the playing list. “Our player stocks sort of stay the same,” Tubby said. “There are a lot of good young kids coming through who we’ll be looking to develop.” He said the club was advertising for players and could sort job opportunities for the right candidates. Still in his mid-30s, Tubby said his body had started telling him it was time to hang up the boots and he was keen to find out about club life from the other side of things. Tubby said the club had assembled a young group, with about seven new faces on the board. A few of the more senior league players were considering shifting a grade lower, while some of the colts who had a lot of playing time last season would not be available, he said. “Some of the older guys are thinking about pulling the pin and just playing reserves,” he said. “A couple of younger guys are heading to uni. (It’s not certain) whether they go down and try their luck at East Freo and WAFL.” Elijah Burrows, who played 17 league games and scored 14 goals, would be heading to Perth for uni and it was likely more colts players would follow, Tubby said. Northampton Northampton head into pre-season without a league coach or their top scorer, but with plenty of cheer. President Damian Harris said the Rams were still advertising for the role after Beau Walker stepped back from his coaching role to focus on playing duties. Harry Taylor, who smashed the club’s goal record for a single season, will be back in Geelong with the Cats in a development role. Harris said it was always tricky recruiting for a country club because of the distance. What the Rams did offer, he said, was the chance to play for an entire community. “It feels like we’re 100km out of town,” Harris said. “It’s too easy for them just to go to play for a town club. But Northampton’s the place to be. We’re a whole shire. You’ve got a whole community supporting you. Northampton, Kalbarri, Port Gregory, Horrocks and the farming communities, we all support you.” The club — Geraldton Guardian Local Achievers at the 2021 Mid West Sports Awards — made a strong run to the preliminary last season but went down to a Railways side en route to their second grand final in a row. Harris said although Walker and Taylor would not be around in the same capacity, what they had brought to the club would persist. “The boys have been shown some high standards by Beau and Harry and some stuff on where to go and how to get there, and they can carry that on,” he said. “Their professionalism is awesome, and that’s what I hope they’ll go on with.” The Rams’ women’s side won their first flag last season and will be looking for a repeat. Rovers Rovers have picked up some new players as they look to rebound after their season ended at the semifinal stage last season following back-to-back premierships. They’ll likely be doing that without their best player from last season, as joint JJ Clune winner Jaimon Alone will try his luck with WAFL club Subiaco. The club are remaining tight-lipped on other moves for now. “I’m not at liberty to give names out as yet,” coach Ian Comben said. “We’ve been trying to bolster our list and at this stage have picked up a couple. “We’ve been active in the recruiting space and hopefully it comes to fruition. I’m sure we won’t get everyone we’d like to but we’re out there doing our bit.” Alone will be the club’s biggest loss, but Comben said he wished him well. “We hope he makes it,” he said. “He’ll certainly leave a big hole in our midfield. “He’ll start pre-season early in the new year, hopefully work his butt off, and force his way into their league side by the end of the year. That’s what we’d like to see.” Comben said the club was always open to new players from around the district. “We’ve been reasonably successful over the last four to five years and look to continue that,” he said. “We have a good atmosphere, a hard-working committee and a good blend of young players and some seniors, and they enjoy their footy and have a good time. “They put in the hard work and enjoy their time afterwards. It’s a good place to be around. We’re looking forward to pre-season in the second week in February.” Boxing coach Jake Whitney will be taking part of pre-season, doing some endurance work with the club and introducing new drills.