Wapling hopes Goorambat continue to rise

THE rapid growth of Goorambat’s senior football side over this past O&K season turned out to be irresistible for coach Ben Wapling, who will lead the Bats again in 2025. Wapling said when he signed last year he was committed to the one season in charge in an attempt to turnaround the fortunes of the club from their 2023 season, but was drawn to the playing group’s development. “I always committed to helping the club out and rebuild and I said at the stage I’d help out for 12 months but as you do, you get sucked into it,” he said. “The commitment the boys have shown and the improvement they’ve made is what we were after. “They worked extremely hard over last pre-season and worked hard on the mental side of things too to have that sort of belief and work ethic around what we wanted to achieve.” Goorambat were the league’s biggest improvers this season, jumping from a 10th placed finish in 2023 to make the semi-finals this year. The side was bolstered by a wave of recruits who came to play under Wapling, headlined by veteran goal kicker Duane Haebich, who kicked 72 goals this past season. Rhys Goodley, Brayden Stepien and Lachy Boyle all made big contributions to the Bats’ quick rise up the ladder and complimented club mainstays Jamie Dunne, Sully Mulay and Dylan Beavis. The Bats have already been buoyed by a host of senior player re-commitments for next year including cornerstones Dunne, Haebich, Beavis and Stepien. Wapling said maintaining the core group of players will be the main driving factor to taking the club in further in 2025. “The existing group of players we have are the ones who have done the hard work, making sure we get as much of them to stick around,” he said. “We’ll look at areas we might have fallen short this year, like more depth with our on-ball brigade and finding a bit more strength within our forward area so it’s no just reliant on one or two players.” Goorambat hosted their presentation night for 2024 last week, with Sully Mulay taking home the senior football best and fairest followed by Ben Reaburn at runner up.

Wapling hopes Goorambat continue to rise

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