NORTH Launceston Football Club boasts a proud 121-year history and a premiership record that has rightly earned it the reputation as one of the most successful clubs in the state.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The club affectionately known as the Robins for a major part of that success, is now marketed under the Northern Bombers moniker, but continues to pride itself on being a family club.
Those family ties remain strong and are only too evident still in the make-up of tomorrow's State League grand final team.
"This is a continuation of North Launceston as the family club that it is," club president Thane Brady said.
"We have players such as Taylor Whitford playing in his first senior grand final, whose father Chris is a former premiership player.
"Tony "Ozzie" Young, who is our list manager and a former senior premiership player, has his son Lochlan playing.
"Bruce Lockhart, our director of football and a former premiership player, has his son Jay playing.
"Brett Young, a long-serving committee member and former premiership player, has his son Callen in the side, and Colin Lockhart, who is our current state under-18 premiership coach, has his son Will in the squad.
"Then we have brothers Brad and Andrew Cox-Goodyer who have both had terrific years for the club and they are thoroughly enjoying their first year of TSL footy together after Andrew joined from NTFA club Rocherlea where he was a premiership captain."
Brady said it was a sense of pride for the club to be maintaining those family connections.
"I've been associated with the club since 1979 and we've always had relatives, brothers playing in North Launceston sides with family members associated and helping the club off-field," he said.
"That's one of the reasons the club has been around for 121 years and why it is has been so successful."
Boasting a premiership record that's the envy of most other clubs in Tasmanian football, the Northern Bombers have endured an uncharacteristic premiership drought for the past 16 years, which they hope will end in today's season decider.
"I've been in the president's role coming up five years now and in 2009, we changed our focus and restructured and through our list manager Ozzie Young and purposely went out to select the best young talent in our development zone," Brady said.
"We knew we had to be patient and we've developed those players now into senior footballers who have colts and under-18 premierships along the way but we are now reaping the rewards of forming a sustainable plan and sticking to it.
"We have a fantastic young group of players with our state under-18 side, excellent representation in under-16 and under-18 football and we know we have excellent talent we continue to develop in our under-age system.
"The club has been very successful off-field and we're financially stable and confident we can now maintain some dominance at TSL level."
Brady said the club was excited to be in its first grand final since 2003 and keen to win its first senior flag since the halcyon days of the old statewide league when it knocked off arch-rival Clarence, going through the 1998 season undefeated under coach Mathew Armstrong.
"We are excited about being in a grand final and it's a recognition of the hard work that a large team of people have put in, generally volunteers, that have assisted to develop the best talent in our development zone," he said.
"This is another stepping stone towards the club not only being successful this year, but maintaining that success in the years to come."