AFTER missing finals in 2021, Aspley coach John Taylor and his Hornets will be looking to climb back up the ladder in 2022.

Taylor says his side’s preseason has gone well. The Hornets have a number of new players again this year, and have been trialling them in new positions.

Despite the floods that have devastated that corner of Australia recently, the Hornets haven’t been too badly affected by them.

“We were very fortunate, the Aspley footy oval drains very well and it’s not in a low lying area,” Taylor said. “Out of that two-week flood time, we probably trained once whereas the other clubs didn’t train at all, and we had some facilities to do a bit of a session outside in a different place. So it wasn’t too bad, travel to the field kept a few away because roads were flooded.”

There are a number of new faces in Hornets colours this season.

Rachel Vetter is a small/mid-sized forward who has come across from University of Queensland (UQ), and was the leading goalkicker for her side last year.

Abbey Hewett has come across from Wilston Grange, a small midfielder/forward and the reigning QAFLW Rising Star.

Emma Lendrum has come across from Claremont in Western Australia, and is a centre half-forward and ruck.

Elise McNiven has also come in from Division One, and is an ex-sprinter who is developing her skills.

The Hornets also have a number of Brisbane Lions and Gold Coast Suns Academy members in their side for 2022, including Rania Crozier, Lilu Hung and Finn Davies.

Several Hornets also made the Queensland state side this year, including Ella Smith, Charlotte Mullins and Phoebe Baird.

As much as he would like all his players to have breakout seasons, describing the squad as even, there was one player in particular that Taylor thought might shoot out of the blocks in 2022.

“I’m hoping they all do!” he said with a laugh. “I think Ange Lingard’s going to be a big chance to play well. She’s sort of our second pinch ruck and a key position. We’ve played her at centre half-back and she’s done extremely well there. She’s a big powerhouse sort of player and very quick for her size.”

Aspley played three practice matches in the lead up to this weekend’s season opener. In the first two the Hornets lost to Yeronga by about three goals, and newcomers Southport comfortably.

Their third was against UQ, and although they lost by 10 goals, there were a number of factors which contributed to the result. The Hornets had 13 members of their side that were aged 19 or under, and the Red Lions had a few Brisbane Lions players in their side. Also, when the Hornets had a better side in last year, the Red Lions beat them by over 100 points, so to go down by only 10 goals is a vast improvement.