It certainly felt like footy was not far away! Like a wintery Melbourne day the weather was wet and dreary, but that didn’t dampen sign-on around the coast.
Despite the ordinary weather, all eleven clubs put on a great display for new and returning players.
Here’s a quick view around sign on day around the coast for 2013.
Bribie Island
The club had a big couple of days over sign-on weekend, with a lot of new players across all age groups. The club certainly benefited from having an information stand at the shopping centre on the previous Saturday.
Caloundra
With an army of blue, red and gold volunteers manning the BBQ, age group tables, merchandise booths and information tables, the Panthers Den was certainly a welcoming sight for all players. With massive sign-on numbers, including more than 40 new faces, the club is hoping to back up their successful 2012 season and will be chasing “Club of the Year” accolades.
Coolum Beach
This year saw Coolum Beach hold sign-on day at Jetts Fitness who have come on board as the clubs new major sponsor. The venue obviously proved a success with over half of the players from last year already signed on for the 2013 season. A massive amount of new registrations suggest the club could be pushing towards 200 players this season and possibly fielding two Under 14 teams for the first time, with future involvement with local schools the Breakers are certainly working hard to make this a possibility.
Glasshouse Hinterland
Despite having to operate under an awning in the rain, sign-on weekend went very well with lots of new players spread over all age groups. With the club participating at the Beerwah ‘Come and Try’ day on February 27, there will be more registrations to come.
Gympie
It was a solid start to registrations over the weekend for Gympie. The committee worked very hard in the weeks leading up to sign-on, even the latest flood didn’t dampen their enthusiasm. Signs around Gympie town and local schools helped get the word out about sign-on, seeing quite a few new registrations for the Cats. There will be some extra focus targeting the local schools with planned AFLQ programs in the coming weeks which hopefully will boost the numbers in Under 8s and 10s. The Cats are keen to have their first U15 Youth Girls team take the field this season.
Kawana Park
The Eagles volunteers proudly had their new club house set up and staffed to cope with sign-on inundation. Posting impressive figures the Eagles are well over their numbers set at this time last year. Brisbane Lions mascot Bernie GABBA Vegas also had a ball waving to the traffic along the Nicklin Way, hoping to recruit a few new Eagles players.
Maroochydore
With plenty of Roos apparel on sale and the hard working volunteers keenly signing on new participants for the 2013 season it was great to see many braved the inclement weather to come down to Maroochydore. The club certainly has fantastic sign-on figures coming through with online registration proving a successful strategy.
Nambour and Hinterland
The blues descended on Sunshine Coast PCYC on Saturday with an impressive sign-on display including a play AFL DVD on repeat, Kids First brochures and handball targets for the kids (and parents) to have a crack. A well run show by the newest AFL collaboration on the Coast which will be great for participation number this season and beyond. The Blues then headed back out to their home at Palmwoods on Sunday to sign up more future stars.
Noosa
With still more than 100 players from last year to re-sign to the Tigers, registrations for this season are looking strong. On February 9 and 10, Noosa held a Junior Family Fun day which was certainly a factor in the number of new registrations received at Weyba Road.
The whisper is out that Noosa will be fielding a number of Youth Girls teams this year which is very exciting for the girls competition.
North Shore
Jets volunteers have been working hard promoting the club in all ways imaginable with the club hoping these efforts will produce big rewards, with more than forty percent of current registrations being new participants and strong numbers in the 8s, 10s and 12s, the focus in the next few weeks will be on the Under 14s and 16s as the club looks to field a team at all age groups again this year. Club talks with Pacific Paradise School girls born between 1998 and 2001 could see the club field a Youth Girls team for the very first time
Pomona
Pomona created some extra interest by holding registrations at the local IGA on sign-on Saturday. With sixty percent of the Demons already re-signed and many new registrations for the upcoming season it certainly is looking to be fantastic year for the club. With some extra focus put into local schools with the help of planned AFLQ programs the Demons are hopeful this will help boost numbers in the 8s and 10s. Pomona have declared they will definitely field an Under 16 team this season so Pomona boys born in 1997 and 1998 get on down to the club and join in at training.
The start of the 2013 Sunshine Coast Radiology AFL Sunshine Coast Juniors season is only just around the corner with Under 12, Under 14 and Under 16 players kicking off on the weekend of 22 and 24 March.
Our youth girls competitions will get underway on Friday April 19 with a huge gala night scheduled.
Under 8s and 10s players will start their AFL season on Sunday April 21 with their season opening carnival to be held at Kawana Park.
So, if you haven’t already, make sure you head down to your local club and sign on to play AFL in 2013!
Last Modified on 01/05/2013 10:58