New co-coaches Shawn Filo and Angus Monfries have the task of lifting Maiden Gully YCW from the bottom of the LVFNL ladder to finals contenders.
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The Eagles won three games in 2023 and collected the wooden spoon.
Filo and former Essendon and Port Adelaide forward Monfries were not appointed as co-coaches until mid-November, leaving the duo with plenty of work to do off the field to put together a competitive list.
The Eagles have retained a sprinkling of talented local talent - a crucial step as the club rebuilds its senior squad.
With games against Calivil United and Mitiamo - who also finished in the bottom half of the table last year - in the opening three rounds, the Eagles will be keen to get some early wins on the board.
Q AND A WITH MGYCW CO-COACH SHAWN FILO
You had a late start to the silly season, how did you go with recruiting?
"(Former Bendigo VFL player) Mitch Hough is a playing assistant coach, but he will miss the first few weeks as he comes back from an injury.
"Tom Pridgeon is a playing assistant coach who has played VFL footy and he'll play through the midfield.
"Todd Delahy will play as a key position forward, Declan Phyland is a midfielder/half-forward, who has played Ballarat inter-league and Adam Pollock will be our back-up ruckman.
"Jack McHutchison and Dylan Turner have come across from Wycheproof.
"We'll have three players come in from the Northern Territory - Will Farrer, Jonathan Farrer and Josiah Farrer. They've played for the NT Thunder and Will kicked 100 goals in a season in Darwin footy (2016), which hasn't been done very often.
"The NT boys are high quality... they won't be available every game for us.
"In terms of outs, it's hard for me because a lot had gone before we were appointed. I think the club has lost more than 20 players across seniors and reserves."
Are you happy with the club's preparation for round one?
"We've had a couple of practice matches and I was really happy with how our local players went.
"We didn't have any of our new players aside from Angus Monfries and Adam Pollock.
"Josh Worsley, Grayson Brown, Ryan Strauch, Tom Birch and Ed Crisp have been the standouts for us in the practice matches."
Is Angus Monfries right to pull the boots on again?
"Angus is still playing good footy.
"He'll play in a variety of roles for us. He's still good around goals, but then in a final last year up in Swan Hill he had 45 possessions playing off half-back.
"He's so clean with the footy and doesn't waste it.
"We have some real goers, but in terms of the finishing touches that's where Angus, Mitch Hough and Bryce Franzini, who didn't play last year, and Grayson Brown will be important for us with their composure with the footy."
What sort of realistic expectations do you set for 2024?
"You always set the bar of at least achieving finals.
"I like stats and, if you look at last year, I think offensively we were two goals off Bridgewater and two goals off them defensively as well.
"You look at the top side Marong and they were averaging 130-odd points per game and only conceding four-and-a-half goals per game.
"We're coming from a long way back, and the competition appears as though it's going to be better, but we'll strive to play finals.
"We want to get the best out of our local boys. We want to put some time into the young players at the club and get the young players that have left the club back into the system.
"One point players are so important."
The big ground at Marist College lends itself to a running style of footy. What can we expect from the Eagles on their home deck?
"You can get lost on that ground reasonably easily, so bringing the ball through the runway is going to be important.
"You need to take the game on, so the footy IQ of players is so important as to when to attack and when to hold the footy.
"You want to get at least 10-12 goals to be competitive in games and we think we can achieve that in the game style we'll play."
SEASON FIXTURE:
ROUND 1 - April 13
v Calivil United (h)
ROUND 2 - April 20
v Bridgewater (h)
ROUND 3 - April 27
v Mitiamo (a)
ROUND 4 - May 4
v bye
ROUND 5 - May 11
v Inglewood (h)
ROUND 6 - May 18
v Newbridge (a)
ROUND 7 - May 25
v Marong (h)
ROUND 8 - June 1
v BL-Serpentine (a)
ROUND 9 - June 15
v Pyramid Hill (h)
ROUND 10 - June 22
v Calivil United (a)
ROUND 11 - June 29
v Bridgewater (a)
ROUND 12 - July 6
v Mitiamo (h)
ROUND 13 - July 13
v bye
ROUND 14 - July 20
v Inglewood (a)
ROUND 15 - July 27
v Newbridge (h)
ROUND 16 - August 3
v Marong (a)
ROUND 17 - August 10
v BL-Serpentine (h)
ROUND 18 - August 17
v Pyramid Hill (a)
