Kiama Power will be looking to defend its premiership flag in the opening round of the AFL South Coast season this weekend.
Kiama defeated the Wollongong Lion’s in last season’s grand-final, and Power vice president Dan Bradley is hopeful the club can replicate that success this time around. He said the club had its eyes on finals berth across its three grades.
Kiama Power celebrate winning the 2018 AFL South Coast Grand Final.
Picture: Kiama Power
“Probably make prelims, we don’t want to set too high an expectation, obviously coming off winning a flag is always good, you always want to succeed and continue on with that. The ultimate would be to get three flags, for the women as well,” Bradley said.
The premiership race is shaping as the tightest in years, with the Wollongong Lions, Figtree Kangaroos, and Wollongong Bulldogs all picking up strong players in the off season.
Bradley said the Bulldogs are the side most likely to challenge Power for the flag.
“The Bulldogs have actually three different teams in the men’s comp, so I would assume that their depth is going to be quite good and they’ve probably stepped up to the plate,” Bradley said.
Kiama Power has also improved its squad and Bradley nominated midfielder Max Witts as a player to watch.
“Max is a new player to the club, he’s gonna be quite handy, quite tall, mobile sort of a player, probably run through the midfield and through half back,” Bradley said.
The Kangaroos will also be hungry for success this season, after narrowly losing last year’s semi-final (71-59) to the Wollongong Bulldogs.
Figtree captain Jacob Hennessy in action. Picture: Figtree Kangaroos
Kangaroos captain Jacob Hennessy said his side had taken a more methodical approach to pre-season.
“We’ve been more structured this pre-season, we’ve had a lot more planning go into it, rather than just going out there and doing normal drills. We’ve been able to implement drills that complement out game style that we want to put in throughout the year,” Hennessy said.
Figtree will take on Kiama in the opening game of the season on Saturday, with first bounce 2:15pm at Bonaira Oval.