Last year St Albans was struggling to find the numbers to fill two senior football teams in the Western Region Football League.
Fast forward to last week, the Saints thirds side was playing off in the Riddell District Football League Club 18s grand final against Eynesbury.
Speaking before the grand final, Saints coach Damien Downing said it was massive for the club to have a senior team in finals, with not much success in recent years.
The Saints would win the grand final convincingly.
“It’s good for the club,” he said. “It’s been 26 years since we last had a thirds side in A3 back then.
“We’ve been able to get some guys back to the club. It’s successful for us to get into the grand final.
“Our reserves won a grand final in 2015, so it’s been a little while since we’ve had some success at senior level.”
With many clubs struggling for numbers this season due to COVID-19 to field an extra side is a massive win for the club.
Downing, who coached the reserves last season, said the thirds team came about after the new reserves coach brought in some new players and they had too many for two open age sides.
After starting with 18 players in round one there are now 32 players in the squad.
“We’ve had plenty of players come along during the season,” he said. “We’ve lost a few along the way as well.
“We have an unlimited bench so everyone can be part of it and I don’t have to cut anyone. It can be hard on game day with so many players though.”
With no compulsory training, the side has a mixture of players pulling on the boots each week.
There’s the guys who want to just play football and don’t have to train and there’s a number of younger players.
Downing said the side had given an options to more player to try and keep players in the game.
“You tend to lose under-18 kids who don’t want to come up and play reserves football just yet,” he said.
“This gives them the chance to still play football and might keep them in the game for longer.
Downing said before the match that they were hoping to get a big crowd at the grand final at Kings Park.
He said that it was not only big for the club but the community as a whole.
