Coaches ready to welcome Wanderers players into Leonard Cup sides

With close to 30 players now without a club, local teams are watching with baited breath, hoping to snag some premier league talent for themselves.

While it's expected that many players will return to their junior clubs, until registrations open there's no guarantee where they'll go.

After being one of the dominant teams in the competition over the past five years, Hanwood coach Anthony Zuccato is excited for what the new talent means for the competition as a whole.

"It's definitely a good thing, it's good to see Henwood Park back with a team who will hopefully bring some good competition if they've got players coming in from NPL, Tolland have obviously always been there, and the other teams are getting better year in year out," Zucatto said.

"Always happy for more competition, definitely, a good thing.

"You want every game to be a game that anyone can win on the day."

While he's not expecting to pick up any Wanderers players, mostly due to geography, he'd like to see them spread across a range of teams, namely their junior clubs.

"I'd be very, very surprised, unless they relocate to Griffith, that's always a possibility," he said.

"Ideally you'd like to see them back to their junior teams, they were obviously with a club before they played Wanderers.

"I'd like to see them go back and strengthen those teams.

"It depends where they're from, we've never played Lake Albert in first grade, Henwood Park we haven't played in three years, so it'd be good to see those clubs come back."

With several Junee juniors making their way into the Wanderers program, including players who had dual registration for the 2022 season, committee member and outgoing coach Matthew Stubbs is excited for the influx of talent in the league.

Having played in the 2022 grand final, and making finals again this year, Junee has been a competitive club in recent seasons.

"I know Rod Buik is heading back to Henwood Park, and there's been some discussion over this way, there's three Junee girls in the current Wanderers set up," Stubbs said.

"The club would love them to come back, they're very talented young girls."

Stubbs is optimistic that the availability of high talent players will help bridge some of the gap between the top and bottom sides.

"I really think it'd be a really positive thing for those young girls to come into the competition and back into their clubs," he said.

Most importantly though, Stubbs hopes some of the high-level attitude will also rub off on local club players.

Admitting he struggled to get consistent numbers at training this year, he said moving out of the Wanderers system, he expects those players will want to play for clubs with good commitment.

"I'm hoping that the next level of competition, these young ones who are fit, they train a lot through the NPL program and the Academy, drives local teams and clubs to train more," he said.

"I think one of the biggest issues with teams like Hanwood and Tolland is they have a fitness edge over others, the train well and they're very competitive.

"They're also quite physical, and a lot of players don't cope with that fitness and that physicality, so I think it's a very positive thing and I'm rapt that they're going to stay in the game and get back into it."

While 2023 Wanderers second grade coach Rod Buik has confirmed he'll return to Henwook Park, he's said he isn't expecting and hasn't asked the Wanderers players to blindly follow him there.

Instead he'd rather they filter through the league and find the clubs that best suit them as individuals.

"With the Wanderers now not running seniors next year, that's 30 odd players who will come back into the system," Buik said.

"Hopefully some of them will come back to Henwood Park, the girls that were with Henwood Park before, but I always say to the girls, go to training at different clubs, find the one that fits you."

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