IN 2024, PORTLAND Football Netball Club will field a full complement of junior footballers for the first time since joining the Hampden Football Netball League, with the club announcing they will have an under-10s mixed team for the upcoming season.  

Under-10s coordinator Michael Carr said the inclusion of this new team presents “an exciting time ahead for Portland Tigers football.”

“We’ve been asked ever since we entered the Hampden league back in 2013 to field a full complement of junior teams,” Carr said.

“Obviously the push has always been there from the Hampden league, but while the (now defunct) Portland Junior Football Association and the Greater South West Junior Football League were on the table, the Tigers’ commitment as a club was to support those existing competitions.”

Carr said the under-10s division would serve to bridge the gap between the Kickstart program (formerly Auskick) and the under-12s.

“We’ve been finding that by the time the older kids get to eight or nine years old, they’re ready to play, and they lose a bit of interest with this skills-based training,” he said.

“They want games, and that gap between the kids that age and under-12s is just too big.

“When we spoke with some of the other clubs such as Hamilton, they said it was the best thing they ever did at their club, and they see no reason why we wouldn’t have a similar success rate.

“We had over 80 kids in our Kickstart program last year, so the numbers are good.

“It’ll be good to see kids start playing as young as five and working their way through their entire football journeys as members of Portland Tigers.”

The club has appointed Tom Hoekman to coach the side next year, while Steven Quarrell will step in to fill the role of runner.

“The appointment of Tom Hoekman as the under-10’s coach for season 2024 is really exciting for the club,” Carr said.

“Tom is a former player at (Portland) and has been coaching most for the kids for the last couple of years in the Kickstart program.”

Hoekman expressed his excitement for the upcoming season, saying it should prove to be a great move for the future of football in Portland.

“It sort of completes the whole family, now we’ve got a side competing in every age group,” Hoekman said.

“Hopefully we can keep growing the numbers at the club and keep them here for many years to come.”

Both Hoekman and Quarrell have sons who will be playing in the side this season, but beyond that they said their goal was to ensure there’s something in place for all juniors in that age bracket to enjoy their start to organised football.

“It’s good to be able to give a little back, and make sure everyone around the community gets something out of it,” Hoekman said.

“The emphasis is as much on building relationships with the other kids as it is anything else, some of the friendships you make at this age could well be for life.”

“My younger son (Isaac) is just stepping out of the Kickstart program, but under-12s is probably a bit too much, so the under-10s will give him the perfect entry point,” Quarrell said.

“Giving the kids a bit of structure and teaching them about how to play the game is important, beyond the basic skills even just stuff like listening in at the huddle and learning how to execute the skills under pressure.”

Carr said the team already has around 16 players who are keen to pull on the boots next season, in what will be a 14-round season with seven home games and seven away.

Games will be on a Sunday alongside the under-12s, 14s and 16s, with training to be on Wednesday evenings for one hour, and dinners to follow afterwards at Hanlon Park.