By Jonty Ralphsmith
Southern Football Netball League Division 4 club Dandenong is set to return to its original Dandenong West identity from 2024.
The club, currently known as the Redlegs, is doing so to better connect itself with its history.
Informal discussions about a return to the Dandy West moniker have been ongoing for the best part of the last decade at the club.
Vice president Justin Smith put it more seriously on the radar towards the end of last year.
He believes the time is right to return to the traditional nickname.
“I feel like under the Redlegs we had no identity or place or sense of purpose,” Smith said.
“You go to other clubs and hear them speaking about past players and history, which I felt was missing under the Redlegs banner, the name and identity.
“A few older blokes pop their heads in every now and then and put the idea forward that a lot of past players and supporters would get involved and reinvigorate that identity, and I think it is a now or never time.
“We’re heading in a new direction as a club under Mick Lawrence, the current senior coach, who has played under the Dandy West banner as a young kid, and we have lot of people back involved at our club so there’s no better time.”
In 2024, the jumper will still have the Redlegs logo before a more permanent change is sought in 2025.
Smith added that the club changing its guernseys for the 2022 season, its 60th year, cemented the idea.
The club also hopes the change will lead to an increased connection with the Dandenong West Cricket Club.
This year is Lawrence’s second as coach and he has overseen a youth-led change at a club dominated by veterans in their mid-30s in recent years.
Some of Dandenong’s best performers in 2023 have been goal kicker Brandon Nolan, recruit Hayden Egerton, fullback Lenny Van Schaik and young halfback Riley Lawrence.
The Redlegs have upset top four sides Hampton and Moorabbin in the last month, and led ladder leaders South Mornington at three-quarter-time on the weekend, before being overrun.
