Rebuild phase on the cards for Mooroopna as a wealth of experience walks out the door

PLAYER CHANGES

INS: Mitch White (Monash Blues), Ben Woods (overseas), Fletcher Everard (Shepparton Swans), Liam Sanders (Shepparton)

OUTS: Coby McCarthy (Kyabram), Dom Gugliotti (Werribee), Jed Woods (Geelong VFL), Keelin Betson (St Joseph’s), Bryce Rutherford (Langwarrin), Daniel Johnston (Sunbury), Angus Hanrahan (Sydney VFL), Jack Brooks (Strathmore)

There’s no dancing around the fact Mooroopna has lost serious depth over the off-season.

However, it’s far from a reason to put a line through the Cats just yet.

John Lamont’s side saw serious firepower walk out the door following the 2023 season and still managed to roll into finals last year, but the man himself laid out the club’s main focus for 2025.

“The emphasis will mainly be around youth - we’ve lost a lot of players,” Lamont said.

“We’ve got a good crew of youngsters; we’ve got boys trying out VFL lists and Murray Bushrangers programs so we’re trying to build that philosophy of playing the best footy you can and striving to be the best version of yourself.

“We strongly encourage that so we’re really pleased with the boys that are on VFL and Bushranger lists.

“We’ve got other blokes like Kade James and Oscar Emanuelli - youngsters who played senior footy for us last year - and hopefully we’ll get more game time into them as senior players and they’ll continue to improve.”

Homegrown talents moving on to scale the Victorian footy pyramid puts a gold star by Mooroopna’s name, and there’s still a vein of young guns who’ll call the Cattery home in 2025.

But with top-end players like 2024 best-and-fairest Keelin Betson and leading goalkicker Daniel Johnston exiting the club, the Cats will find out where they sit when taking on a juiced-up Mansfield in round one.

A deep finals run may not be on the cards for Mooroopna in 2025, but in Lamont’s eyes, the long-term blueprint is looking solid for future growth.

“Our thirds group under coach Tim Loughran’s guidance as a first year coach, he’s done a really good job with them and the thirds have embraced the senior club,” he said.

“It’s been a really positive pre-season.”