THE GREATER Western Victoria (GWV) Rebels will be flooded by fresh faces in 2025 after last year’s breakthrough grand final appearance. With plenty of unknowns ahead, head coach David Loader is buoyed by a “faultless” preseason and the opportunity to develop untapped talent.

PRESEASON

“It’s been really good. Last year we restructured our program, We had our squad selected in December which is really beneficial on two fronts. For our local boys that don’t make the list, they can get back to their local clubs and continue to try and strive to play the highest level at local footy. And for the squad that we do get, they can then follow our program over Christmas, and we’re dealing with a way smaller group than we were in the past.

“So, it’s worked really well for us, preseason’s been pretty faultless. We’ve got two or three boys that are injured, but not a lot, and it’s a very new group. We haven’t got many carry overs from last year. Obviously last season we had a very good side and a really deep group. A lot of those boys have moved on, so we’re looking at a heap of fresh faces and I’m really looking forward to see what this new group can do.”

TOP-AGE VIC COUNTRY HUB MEMBERS

Harley Hicks
Forward/Midfielder | 178cm | 26/07/2007

“[Harley] is a really exciting X-factor type player. He can play forward or through the midfield. High end speed, very clean on the ground. He’s got some really high end traits that hopefully we’ll see come out a little bit more this season. He had a really good finish to the season last year and has grown and really developed as a person above everything else. So that’s going to hold him in good stead with his footy.”

Archie Taylor
Defender/Midfielder | 178cm | 25/05/2007

“Archie Taylor is the other one, really high end speed. He’s got a slight injury at the minute… [but] he’s genuinely quick and he’ll expand his role from last year. He’ll go from being a small running defender to play a little bit higher up the ground and some time in the midfield as he develops this year.”

>> Q&A: Harley Hicks (GWV Rebels)

ONES TO WATCH

“Because we’ve got so many new faces, we’re looking for someone to bob up that we haven’t had a lot to do with in the past and hasn’t been in programs or in squads… from last year, Fraser Molan‘s going really well, Sinclair Burmeister‘s going really well. There’s two or three boys that will be back with us again that we’ve got great hopes for. But the fresh faced ones, they’ve done a bit of training and that sort of stuff. We’ve just got to wait and see how they go and we’ll start playing games and we’ll see where they fit in the system, which is which is exciting in itself.”

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RETURNING OVER-AGERS

“We’ve got Floyd Burmeister coming back, who’s an enormous talent at 200cm. He’s played very little footy. Flynn Penry at 201cm comes back and Wil Rantall, who was injured all last year as a key defender. Those guys are probably the ones are at the higher end of our list at this point in time.”

EXCITING BOTTOM-AGERS

“Our two or three state representatives from Under 16s last year, Michael Hughes, Tethloach Dak Liem, Ethan Drever and those types of players have got a lot of development in front of them. They’re only small in stature and that sort of stuff, so they’ll get bigger and stronger. Probably the head of our list of 17-year-olds is Drever. He played really well at national level through the midfield last year, so he’s an exciting prospect and I see him playing a lot of footy as a bottom-ager this year.”

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STYLE OF PLAY

“I don’t know if it’s simplistic, but as I say, kick more goals than the opposition. We’d like to be able to do that. But [also] be brave with the footy. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Defend when you have to defend and try and learn as much as you can about the game. It’s a wonderful environment to be in as a coach at this level because it’s not about winning all the time. It’s certainly about developing the players and seeing how much they can improve at an individual level for a number of reasons. So that all makes it exciting and a little bit different to coaching at other levels.”

GOALS

“I don’t think they change from year to year. We want our boys to improve. We want them to have a lot of fun. We want to develop everyone as much as we possibly can and see if we can find a player out of left field for the AFL. They’re our big aims, but as long as we’re creating safe environments – high pressure, but high support environments – that’s how we’re going to get the best out of our kids… we look forward to the season ahead. Whether we’re winning games or we’re not or whether we’re getting kids drafted or not, they’ll all improve and they’ll have a great journey along the way.”

FIRST MATCH

Round 2 vs. Geelong Falcons
Saturday April 5, 1:10pm @ Mars Stadium

“It’s interesting, we usually play Geelong about four times a year and we have a great relationship with the Falcons, certainly our staff and our players, and we work really well together. ‘Corra’ [Paul Corrigan] is a good mate of mine, so we’ll sit down and have a look at what are the best matchups for us and we’re not afraid to have those conversations with one another. I’m sure they’ll want to get us back for the finals last year where we got them, so we’ll just see how it unfolds, but they’re always great to play against. [Geelong] is a really strong area for footy. They’ll be well organised and our boys will learn a lot from playing against them.”