A SWELTERING Sunday morning ensured the Bendigo Pioneers were put through their paces in Swan Hill during their first training run for next season.
After an information session in Mildura on Friday, the entire Pioneers list hit the track across three of Swan Hill’s ovals.
Swan Hill Recreation Reserve hosted the 17- and 18-year-old boys, while the girls hit Gurnett Oval.
The under-16 boys trained at Tyntynder’s home at Allan Garden Reserve.
Bendigo Pioneers talent operations lead Rick Coburn said the conditions had “turned up the heat” for the young footballers.
He said the Pioneers were looking to Swan Hill as a “centre point for the region”.
“We wanted to get all list in the one spot, at the one time,” he said.
“We’re super keen to utilise Swan Hill as a centre point for our training, it’s pretty much the centre of our region, so it’s a great opportunity for us.
“The facilities up here are really good as well, you’ve got great grounds and there are a lot of things for us to easily tap into and be able to do in town.
“It also gets the Bendigo players to travel a little bit as well, just to give them that bit of that appreciation.
“It’s not just travelling south, a big part of our competition will be playing Bendigo and in Melbourne, but we try to play some games up in Mildura, and we will be playing some games in the near future in both Swan Hill and Echuca.”
Being from the region, having grown up in Nyah, Coburn said he was well aware of the footballing strength in the Swan Hill area.
“This region is where I came from, as well as our head coach Danny O’Bree, so we certainly understand how much of a footy heartland the Central Murray is,” he said.
“We’re really tapping into the North Central region as well when we’re up here, with places like Sea Lake and Nullawil just down the road.
“It’s just a really strong part of our footballing community, as is Sunraysia, the Goulburn-Murray and Central Victoria, so it’s important for us to get out to all of them.”
Coburn said the squads were looking strong for the new season.
“We are very confident with the talent that we’ve got in both the boys and girls,” he said.
“We are seeing some real strength in both our numbers and the talent, so it’ll be a challenge for us to work through the numbers over the next few weeks.”
Coburn spoke about the strength of local female teams.
“Woorinen has definitely been a strong side for a couple of years now, as well as a few of the sides down in Bendigo as well,” he said.
“We’re also starting to build some more strength in Mildura as well, so it’s really important for us to keep evolving our female competition.
“Hopefully we won’t have to be reliant on these really strong clubs, like Woorinen.
“It’s evolving even quicker than we’ve been able to keep up with, but that’s an exciting challenge for us to be facing.”
