By Max Davies

The presentation night at Lancefield Football Netball Club, LFNC, brought an end to what had been an ‘interesting’ 2023 sporting season.

As it celebrated the club’s 150th anniversary with a match against Romsey midway through the season, Lancefield worked through a raft of changes, including the introduction of senior football coach Tim Bannan – who brought the club a series of wins and strengthened the progression of its juniors.

LFNC president Joe Schembri said it was a ‘massive season’ and was confident in the club’s future.

“There was a lot of stuff going on with [the anniversary], … from a football perspective we got to see a lot of improvement with the new coach Tim Bannan who seemed to be doing a great job,” he said.

“We brought on a lot of young kids as well that showed they’re not out of their depth with us, so moving forward we’re really confident that we can keep that trajectory going.”

Recognised at LFNC’s presentation night were the club’s best and fairest, which included Riley O’Meara and Zac Webb in senior football and Elliott Cowley in Reserves, as well as netballers Darcee Ellard – A Grade, Bethany Lyons – B Grade, Meaghan Lyons – C Grade, and Elke Henson – Under 19.

O’Meara was also awarded the John Malone MVP award, while Tom Waters was named most committed and Ben Bryant was the Tigers’ leading goalkicker.

“I think all the winners were very worthy winners who have all had really good seasons and there’s potential there that they’ll continue to build. There’s no reason why those guys can’t get a little bit better,” Schembri said.

“We hope the rest of the football and netball club will continue to improve, which is basically what we’re all about.”

Lancefield’s ranks in 2024 will feature a women’s team for the first time, as a strong interest to form a side was strengthened by the success of the Riddell District’s inaugural women’s season.

“We’ve set up the junior girls’ program and we want to step it up into the senior. We’ve had a fair bit of interest thus far but we’re more than happy to speak to anyone that’s got an interest in playing women’s football,” he said.

And while the Tigers’ netballers endured an especially difficult season, the recent appointments of new A and B Grade coach Ciara Stewart, formerly the A Grade netball coach at Macedon, and netball coordinator Jodie Bannan are expected to be a promising change for 2024.

“We just thought as a committee that we would like to make netball a bit of a priority moving into next season. We’ve put a new coordinator on with Jodie Bannan,” Schembri said.

“In netball, we’ve got a lot of young talent coming through and we feel that bringing in someone of Ciara’s experience will help to fast-track that and make us a bit more competitive out on the courts.”

The Tigers are proud of their efforts to present themselves as a place for team sports in a safe and inclusive environment and hope to continue to make the club a ‘fun place to be around’ in 2024.

For more information, visit lancefieldfnc.com.au.

Lancefield Football Netball Club awards