Brown confident Lakers are righting the ship

COACH Rohan Brown has said he is confident Lake Wendouree is moving in the right direction after a positive off-season and first phase of pre-season training.

Having identified the need for an injection of class into the senior ranks, Brown said the Lakers could be well satisfied with their early efforts, highlighted by the addition of former VFL talent Will Fordham and Corey Rich and a full-time commitment from Jake Lohmann, who has taken the reins as assistant coach.

Fordham, who spent three years at North Melbourne, will provide a major boost of professionalism, leadership, and experience to a young and developing Lakers list.

A three-time VFL team of the year selection, he played 150 games with Werribee, Frankston and Williamstown.

He was a three-time best and fairest winner at Frankston.

An impressive resume for Rich includes more than 100 VFL games with Sandringham, Frankston and Williamstown and one VFL team of the year selection.

Known for his hard-running, balanced inside/outside game and goal-scoring ability, his on-field leadership and professionalism will prove invaluable.

In no need of an introduction at Lakers, Lohmann brings a wealth of experience to the role, having played over 50 VFL games with North Ballarat, Sandringham, Brisbane and Werribee.

He boasts outstanding leadership credentials, having garnered experience through key roles at Sandringham, GWV Rebels and St Pat’s.

Having played a handful of BFNL games with the Lakers last season in between commitments for Werribee, he has committed full-time for next season.

 

Brown said the key inclusions and a few other promising signings were a credit to football manager Tim Malone and his team.

“We identified we needed to get some class in and we’ve done that,” he said.

“We are really happy with where we sit at the moment, with Will Fordham, Corey Rich and Jake Lohmann all coming in from high-level footy, and a couple of kids from Coates League footy in Kaian Constable and Sam Haywood.

“We’ll give more exposure to Harley Hicks, playing a few more games with us, and there are still a couple more to announce.

“I feel we’ve done a good job bringing people in and our retention has been enormous, which is a pretty proud thing to say as coach, when we’ve had the last three years that we’ve had.

“To have 90 per cent of the senior list recommitted, it’s a huge effort.

“I think they can see that we’ll hopefully move forward and start winning games of footy.”

Hicks, a Lakers junior, has spent three years in the Rebels system while also representing Victoria Country at the state level.

Regarding progress at Lake Wendouree, Brown is confident big steps have been taken.

“We have got some good people; Tim Malone’s done an enormous job with recruiting and retention and I’ve got Matt James helping me at the coaching level, and we’ve brought in Wes Carter, a 200-gamer at Newlyn, and he’s doing our fitness and strength program,” he said.

“Wes has done an enormous job and really made his mark on our footy club already.

“He’s really got the boys in a positive mindset.

“They’ve had a huge few weeks before Christmas, but what they are putting out is fantastic to see.”

The Lakers are scheduled to hit the training track post-Christmas around mid-January.

“We’ve got to start well, a bit like everyone,” Brown said.

“Last year, and I’ll put it down to coaching error, we didn’t have many practice matches; we did a fair bit of match simulation stuff.

 

“We are going to aim for three practice matches this year, and with our start after Easter, we need to start well.

“We’ll go back (after Christmas) a little bit earlier than usual and make sure we are up and going.

“But they are putting the work in now, so we’ll be ready to crack into a bit of match simulation by the first week back.”

While it is tough to predict the relative strength of many BFNL teams at this point of the year, the Lakers will avoid all but one of the 2025 season’s top four in the first four rounds of the 2026 season.

They will open their campaign on 11 April against the team closest to them on the ladder last season, ninth-placed Redan, at CE Brown Reserve.

That will be followed by clashes with 2025 preliminary finalist Melton, an Anzac Day fixture against Ballarat (sixth) and then Sebastopol (eighth).

Only the Ballarat game is an away fixture.

Coming off a winless season, Brown believed the draw was pretty much immaterial.

“Coming from where we were, I can’t sit here and say any draw is easy,” he said.

“You play everyone twice, to me the draw means nothing. You can’t be sitting there pencilling in games as a win or loss as we are coming from a fair way back.

“We’ll put everything into pre-season and when we get to round one, we’ll be focused on Redan as they will on us.”

Brown hailed the introduction of Lohmann as assistant coach as one of the most telling moves made by the club in the off-season.

“He’s done a power of work,” he said.

“The power of Jake and his personality is the reason why nearly everyone stuck around, as they want to play with him, which is fantastic.

“He has helped me enormously already and we are looking forward to seeing him full-time in our colours.”