Craig Giles
President – Mitcham Junior Football Club
Overall, were you satisfied with what the club achieved, both on and off the field, in 2014?
We increased the numbers of teams playing for Mitcham and over half of our competitive teams made the finals which was great. It would have been great to go deeper in the finals but I think most teams were pretty happy with their seasons.
We are lucky to have some great sponsors and we had a number of successful events through the year which means we can continue to invest in our players and club. The highlight for us was being named as the EFL’s Best Conducted Club in 2014 which was great recognition for the way the players and club overall has operated in the last few years.
Approximately how many teams do you think you will field in 2015?
We will field 8 or 9 teams in 2015 which is the highest number of teams we have fielded in many years.
We have had strong growth in our Auskick numbers over the last couple of years and as a consequence we will be fielding U8’s for the first time which is pretty exciting for the club.
What has the feeling been like around the club over the pre-season?
We appointed our coaches early on so it’s given them plenty of time to organise their support staff and playing lists.
A couple of teams started training before Christmas but all teams will be training from mid-February onwards. Pre-season is always a busy time for the committee so fair to say we are all looking forward to April and the football actually starting.
If you had to pick one, which team do you think is the club’s best chance of winning a premiership this season?
To be honest it’s hard to single out one team in particular. All the competitive teams have improved their lists and we would like to think that as a club we can improve on last year’s results and have a couple of teams have a real impact in the finals.
Is there a particular age group of players that you need as soon as possible to fill a team ahead of Round 1?
We don’t have big gaps but a couple of extra players for our U10 and U13 teams would top their lists up nicely
If any players are interested in playing for your club this season, what do they have to do?
For an immediate response players should contact our secretary Glen Newnham on 0403 121 096 or via email at mitchamjnr@efnl.org.au. First year players get free rego and hoodie and all details are available on our website at www.mitchamjfc.com
