Henwood Park confident in pre-season numbers ahead of first grade return

Henwood Park president Tony Dobbin and first grade coaches Jake Ploenges and Rod Buik. Picture by Jimmy Meiklejohn

Henwood Park have been pleasantly surprised by the turnout to their first training session of the year.

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The club plans to return to first grade in both the women's and men's competition this year and incoming men's coach Jake Ploenges said he was impressed with the first training run on Sunday.

With close to 30 athletes attending the men's session, Ploenges was pleased with early commitment from players.

"There were a lot more there than I expected actually, we probably had about 28 players and we've still got a few more that couldn't make that session, so we're looking pretty good for the season," Ploenges said.

"We had a really good turn out for the women's as well, I believe there were about 15 there and a few apologies as well."

Hoping to not see the club fall into the same situation as last year, Ploenges said it was heartbreaking to see the club withdraw from first grade competitions in 2023.

Confident that he can retain most of the players that attended Sunday's session, the first time coach is hopeful that the early start will future proof the team.

While most clubs are yet to begin pre-season training, Ploenges said he'll continue casual Sunday sessions over the coming week to help build fitness.

"I chose to start early because I wanted to get my own fitness up as well, I haven't done much since the Wanderers season was done so it was good to get in nice and early," he said.

"We're only just doing Sundays for a few weeks and then we'll get right into it, but we've also got the preseason tournament coming up so it will be good to get some training sessions done before that comes."

Planning to play in the inaugural Riverina Cup, Ploenges said the more pre-season games his side can get in ahead of the season the better.

His first chance to take on a senior coaching role, Ploenges said it is already a learning experience, balancing when to participate as a player and when to step back as a coach.

"It is definitely a new role for me, especially playing-coaching, which is going to be a little bit tougher, but I'm all for it," he said.

"It feels good, I'm trying to sort myself out between joining the training sessions and then actually coaching but once I get that right then it should be a pretty good season."

Football Wagga are yet to announce the dates of the 2024 season.