WITH THE Pre-Season period in full swing, early data is indicating that there will be more clubs, more teams, more leagues and more players participating in the local GRFC leagues in 2017, with the total number of registered players of the ‘World Game’ in the region set to exceed 4,000 for the first time ever!

The FFV Men’s State League season gets underway on Saturday, with last year’s GRFC Division 1 premiers Deakin Ducks making their debut in State League 5 (West) alongside fellow Geelong club, Lara United. At the other end of the spectrum, newly promoted Geelong SC will be aiming to chase for the State 1 (NorthWest) title and gain promotion into next year’s NPL2 competition.

Saturday will also see the fifth and final MiniRoos Grass Roots coaching course held at Banyul Warri Reserve in Torquay.

There have been an unprecedented five MiniRoos courses held throughout Geelong over the past couple of months, suggesting a further influx of new players (and coaches) at the Grass Roots level, which has been the significant driver of the local game’s massive growth in recent years.

Meanwhile, across town at Howard Glover Reserve, a Level 4 Referees course will be held with the aim of attracting more referees to cope with the ever increasing demand for match officials.

A GRFC Delegates’ Meeting is scheduled for next Monday night, also at Howard Glover Reserve. With the game growing at such an incredible rate, the amount of issues – both positive and negative – facing the local sport is set to be discussed at this highly important meeting.

This will be the last Club Delegates’ meeting before the new season commences on the weekend of 21-23 April.

Finally, next Wednesday (March 29) will see the League Structures updated and the Draft Fixtures for the local GRFC competitions will also be released, providing an insight into the composition of the local leagues for this coming season.