By Josh Ward.
A new dawn is upon the Surrey Park Football Club as its football sides progress into new divisions whilst they introduce a netball program
The Panthers senior men's side will continue their rise up the ranks into Division 2 this year after claiming the 2024 Division 3 premiership in dramatic circumstances.
Playing coach James Kenworthy said that much like last year, there was little time to reflect on a year which brought home more silverware to Surrey Park.
“Not many clubs can say they’ve gone (back-to-back) so it was a pretty special year for us,” Kenworthy says.
“Moving on to a new division you’ve got to plan everything for the next year. And going from Division 3 to Division 2 is a pretty decent jump so as a whole club we were pretty quick to get stuck into preparation for the coming season.”
The big leap into Division 2 has brought a sense of excitement amongst the club and playing group, particularly Kenworthy who’ll go up against some former Blackburn teammates.
There's been plenty of now ex-Blackburn players who’ve joined the club too, including Sam Harte, Sam Rogers, Hayden Telford and Dante Controneo.
On top of that, Ben Woodfull has also returned to Surrey Park from VAFA Premier Division club Collegians while Jake van der Pligt has also joined from Leongatha
“The guys we have been recruiting have already got plenty of friendships within the group so it’s been a pretty seamless transition for all of them.”
Surrey’s recruits have already impressed on the track according to Kenworthy so far this offseason. There’s also some players that are set to return this year along with those recruits.
“Riley Tempany’s coming back from an ACL, Noah Bennett’s coming back from his trip up north and alongside Bennett is Josh Hayes. It’s good to have a couple of old heads coming back.”
Kenworthy says the development of the top age Under 19s coming through will also be a massive focus this year.
“We saw what Angus Sutherland (did last year), but there’s a good five to 10 that can easily play senior football. We’ll definitely be keeping an eye on them.”
With those 19s coming through, the majority of last year’s playing list re-signing as well as their new recruits, the expectation amongst Surrey Park is to continue to develop in this new division.
“We’ve got that much talent at Surrey Park, we're all pretty set on playing finals. I think every team and club should be aiming for that, and if we do make that top five then anything can happen from there on in…
“We’re not there to make up the numbers, we’re going to make a splash in Division 2 that’s for sure.”
Surrey’s women’s side will also compete in a new division in 2025 after an undefeated premiership campaign in Division 2 last year.
Coach Chris Langkou says that he has reflected on the success that was led from the playing group.
“When (we) got to the end it was very nerve-wracking because you were undefeated and you’ve got that over your head,” Langkou said.
“But we seem to take it in our stride. I’m just hoping that the girls understand that now that they’ve done that, hopefully going up a division we won’t be the target.”
Preparation for this coming season in Division 1 is well and truly underway, with Langkou and the group excited about the step up in standard.
“We had a really good preseason last year, we trained eight or nine times (and) the confidence was high.”
They’ve also been able to retain the majority of their playing group along with adding to the team this season with some new recruits.
Among their new signings is Emma Thomas, Emma Bradshaw, Amelie McIntyre and Brianna Shelley, with Bradshaw the only one of those four not to have played juniors at Surrey Park.
“The recruiting’s been really good and if everything goes according to plan we might get a second side for this year.”
On top of these recruits, Langkou is hopeful that each player will continue to improve throughout the season, which was the case in 2024.
“We’ve only had a couple of training sessions but already I can see that the girls are ready for the challenge. Hopefully improvement will be across the board.”
And much like 2024, Langkou says the group will continue to take it one week at a time.
“Once we play everyone once then we can get a (reading) on where we are.”
2025 will also see the Panthers take to the netball court for the first time in the New Balance Netball Competition.
Danny Taylor will head up the netball program this year, saying he’s excited that many people want to become involved with the Panthers new netball program.
“The club were excited because they were one of the few clubs that didn’t have a netball team associated to their footy club,” Taylor said.
“I know people like Jacinta Mullholland are very excited to have that next expansion of the club.”
Up to 30 (at time of writing) have already signed on and joined Surrey Park’s new netball program, a figure which Taylor himself is happy about.
Among those players who’ve joined are a few that are playing with Victorian Netball League clubs, including Wilson Storage Southern Saints player Lucinda Gatt.
“She probably would be our best player. And the reason she’s playing is because of the team she’s played with previously, which was a friendship group team.
“The fact that she wants to play is exciting for the club.”
And getting as many people playing, like Gatt, has and will continue to be the main objective of the Panthers first year in the netball competition.
“Once that’s been established we can (come back) after year one and reassess our goals. But definitely our goal for this year was to give people who wanted to play an opportunity.”