FOOTBALLERS from around the region were put through their paces on Monday night at Monivae College by Rebels head coach, David Loader, as they smashed out some pre-season work which included a 2km time trial.

The youngsters hit the track in a bid to make their way onto the Greater Western Victoria (GWV) Rebels list and compete in the 2022 NAB League Boys competition.

Invitees included those who were selected in the V-Line Cup this year but missed the opportunity to play due to COVID-19, and they now have the chance to prove themselves and gain a spot on the Rebels Under-16 and Under-18 lists.

Those who miss out on the cut for younger Rebels squad will compete in next year’s V-Line Cup alongside those already selected for next year’s competition, who also trained to gain experience.

Kids from the local region have been training for around four weeks at Monivae but this was the first time Loader was able to attend training; Rebels development coach, Paul Cleaver has been running the sessions.

The Rebels have lost a lot of their top-end talent due to how successful the team was last season, as well as the change of the Under-19 age group going back to Under-18.

“It is great to have our region back down here, we had to shut it last year due to the protocols that were given to us by the AFL, to have a group train out of Hamilton is going to help our region down here massively,” Loader said.

“I know there’s some young players down here with a lot of talent, it will be a great opportunity to throw our eye over them tonight and see how they are progressing.

“Just being able to access a few more players, we can hopefully find that diamond in the rough that we may well have been missed.

“Our strength and conditioning guy, Isaac, is here tonight so he will see how they run and that sort of stuff, then we can start painting a picture of how we’re tracking.”

Loader said after missing out on so much football during this year such as the V-Line Cup, it was great to get out on the park.

 He said educating the boys about the system and preparing them and seeing where they are at were the main reasons for the training sessions in different areas was the focus.

“We did Warrnambool week one, Horsham week two and now Hamilton and we are sort of finished,” Loader said.

“This is the first night we’ve been down (to Hamilton), because it’s been shortened so much and because of ground availability and stuff, we haven’t been able to get out to each region.

“It’s probably just to fill in the gaps a bit for the boys, to educate them where they sit in the system and what they’ve got to be able to do … just to come and watch them run around and watch Paul (Cleaver) take the group and train them.

“Some of them have been in programs all the way through, this is the first year in the last few years that we’ve been able to extend and get a few more numbers in, there’s about 120 kids (between 15 and 19).”

Finishing the home and away season this year with a record of 7-3 and sitting second on the ladder, the Rebels were well poised to go deep into finals had they gone ahead.

Their outstanding year continued into post-season awards with co-captain, Josh Rentsch receiving the Morrish Medal, while Charlie Molan, Josh Gibcus, Ben Hobbs and Rentsch all made the NAB league team of the year.

“We had a very good side last year, if everything had been equal last year, we would’ve loved playing a finals campaign and giving it a shake,” Loader said.

“That’s probably the deepest group I’ve ever had in my time, we look forward to moving on and creating the next batch of stars over the next few weeks.

“To have four guys taken in the top 23 is a great effort for our region, we probably had another three or four boys that were frightfully unlucky and there was a couple of them from this area.”

Despite losing quite a bit of top-age talent, Loader was excited about the opportunities it would offer to some of the younger boys.

Vincent Huf was one player that sprung to mind when speaking about talented kids who could possibly take the next step in 2022.

“There is opportunity (and) there’s a few young guys who showed a little bit last year and we are hoping they will step up and fill the void,” he said.

“We want to be super competitive, regardless of the talent we keep, we will be looking to be as strong and as good a side as we possibly can.”

“I’m really excited about this group of young boys coming through … hopefully there is some that are ready to play in six months’ time.

“Some 15s and 16s were in our futures program last year and hopefully there is a nice bit of talent coming from there this year again.

“(Vincent) is super exciting, we know he’s a high-end cricketer, but hopefully he will come across to footy and we will see him play some great footy this year.”