Finals hopefuls Evandale look for strength in numbers

Following an up and down campaign the Eagles were just one spot out of September football in sixth spot, but were four wins away from fifth-placed Old Launcestonians, and their new coaching line-up of Anthony Axton and Jared Lewis have identified improvements early.

"Probably within the list. We haven't really added any major recruits, but we've added some good depth to our list," Lewis said.

"So within the current playing list from last year, we want to see some improvement out of some of the young boys, it's a pretty young list with the average age, so the more that those boys can improve and drive the standards, the closer we'll get to the pointy end."

There have already been a host of new Eagles arrive at Morven Park just two weeks into their pre-season, with Lewis joined by brother Alex and Riley Dabner as a trio of fresh faces from Longford, while Vincent Mohr has arrived from George Town.

Jared Lewis pointed to his family background, in which the past three generations have played for the club, as to the main reason for joining but also alluded to his excitement at the opportunity to work with Axton.

Despite the four-win gap between themselves and finals, Lewis and Axton had been impressed with the squad's level so far and the former believed a rise in the ladder in 2024 was not too great a challenge.

"That's definitely the goal (to play finals), I think last year they took down OLs once so they've beaten a top five side," he said.

"We want to try and get that consistency out of that young group and then hopefully we can sneak in. I think the top couple of teams are pretty clear cut, but hopefully we can improve and take it up to those sides and get some experience into the young list."

While many sides who finish out of the top five could claim to be new and improved during December pre-season, Lewis said Evandale's advantage above other sides was the pre-existing culture which would act as a firm platform to grow from.

"That's the main thing. The nucleus of the culture's there, I saw a few games last year and it looks like a great bunch of guys to be a part of and they obviously have got a pretty good culture looking at it," he said.

"We just want to add to that culture and keep having fun."

Evandale finished the 2023 NTFA division one season in sixth spot with six wins and 10 losses.