Division Four finals football is priority number one in 2021 for Forest Hill and returning head coach Justin Scicluna.
The Zebras finished their 2019 Division Four campaign with seven wins and nine losses, unfortunately missing out on post-season action after an up-and-down campaign.
No football for nearly 18 months has also added motivation for the green and white to get back into top four contention.
“It was actually the playing group that took charge and kept themselves motivated during the break,”
“The group broke themselves up into teams and had competitions to see who could log the most kilometres etc, when we turned up to pre-season in November last year, a lot of the guys were in fantastic shape,” Scicluna said.
“It really fast tracked a lot of the process and we were able to get into some structure work quite quickly, we didn’t have to spend much time getting miles in the legs.”
The proactive approach by the playing group also had plenty of positives for the club off the field.
“It was great for me as coach, as I was able to focus on a lot of the other important stuff like the re-signings and supporting the club to put themselves in a good position financially,”
“We’ve put ourselves in a really good position off the field, now we just need to do the work on it.”
“If there were any positives at all to come out of the pandemic, it was the time we had to get on top of a lot of the planning things we’ve been intending to finish over the last couple of seasons.”
Most of Forest Hill’s senior list from 2019 has been retained despite the long hiatus between kicks, save for a few retirements and departures.
The most notable subtraction being spearhead Steven Pimm, who booted 85 goals over the past two seasons for the club, who has now moved on to VAFA side Canterbury.
In terms of additions, Forest Hill have signed Mitchell Hanegraaf from Division One side Knox.
Hanegraaf, a premiership winner with the Falcons in 2017, has spent most his junior and senior football career with the Falcons, and will add experience at the higher levels of the EFNL to the squad.
The Zebras have also brought young midfielder Mitch Wilkinson across from Mulgrave.
Wilkinson spent the majority of 2019 as captain of the Lions’ U19s side, claiming the club best and fairest award as well as playing six games of senior football.
Jack Borrack has signed on from Park Orchards, as well as Steve Naylor from Wantirna South who has re-committed after first signing on pre-COVID.
The club has also recruited Luke Francis from AFL Outer East side Mount Evelyn. The big-bodied ruckman, who previously was a premiership winner with Templestowe, will provide leadership, experience and presence in the midfield as well as a target down forward.
Scicluna also credits the under 19’s side as vital to the club’s progress this year.
“They’ve been fantastic and a credit to them,”
“A lot of them are effectively eligible to play in that new under 20’s competition, but have said no and stuck by the club,” Scicluna said.
“A lot of these kids are banging on the door to play senior football and going by the energy they showed at the intraclub match last week, it’s going to be an exciting year for us.”
“A big goal for us is to continue developing our young group which are obviously going to be the future of our footy club,”
“We’re putting a lot of effort into fast tracking their development because we need as many of these kids playing senior footy as we possibly can.”
Forest Hill open their 2021 EFNL season away to Silvan on Saturday April 17th 2021.
