After an underwhelming 2024 campaign, in which the Cats finished 11th with just five wins under its belt — 2025 promises to be a year of growth and development.
Luke Saligari, Nick Sheldon and two Echuca products, Cody Mann and Jack O’Callaghan have signed on to play for LBU this season, along with the appointment of previous reserves coach Jayden Howe in the top position for the 2025 season.
Howe emphasised his excitement for the year ahead and reflected on what he deemed to be a successful preseason.
“Preseason has been really positive, obviously there’s been a changing of the guard with me coming in, but it’s just exciting,” he said.
“We have a few recruits and have differing abilities and level of experience, but they all have an eagerness to get involved and drive our standards.
“We’ve looked at changing a few things and new defensive structures and tightening up our play inside 50.
“We’ve got players who are stepping up in leadership roles and the team are all coming together, so it’ll be an excellent hit out, and I’m excited for it.
“I think the biggest thing for me as the coach during preseason is that through the three games, we always moved forward and continued to improve, it was amazing.”
As a community leader in mental health advocacy, Howe has worked hard to make not just the senior team, but the club a positive and open space.
He believes his hard work has paid off and has seen his side come together and rally around each other over the course of the preseason.
“We are creating a good dialogue around the club and having conversations in a professional way that is lifting people up instead of telling them what they could be doing better, looking at what our players are doing well and showing them ways to improve,” he said.
“The vibe is wonderful and we have plenty of guys in the club that want to get up and about and get involved, so it’s been great so far.”
Howe and his side are now looking ahead to the season opener, where they will meet Huntly in a night game at home, with first bounce scheduled for 5.30pm.
He emphasised the importance of the contest in figuring out what elements of the game his side need to improve on and where they stand to start the season.
“After our finish last season, we have a lot to improve on, but we have plenty of new ideas and structure to run, so we’ll be sticking to them and see what happens with this game against Huntly,” he said.
“It’s difficult to prepare against a certain opponent too much in round one, so it is more about getting our own backyard right, but we are confident going in.
“We know what we have is good enough to be up there with the best, we just have to put all the right puzzle pieces together to get the success we are looking for.”
