By Justin Schwarze
Officer Football Club has geared towards a youth movement for season 2025.
With new senior player/coach Nathan Allen at the helm, the club didn’t do a whole lot of recruiting over the off-season.
The Kangaroos inked a deal with Orbost Snowy Rovers defender Max Welsh and also brought in Allen’s brother, Ash, to further deepen their backline.
It seems Officer will focus on the development of their younger players this season, with that being a major motivator in not doing much recruitment.
“It’s such a young group, the club and the committee has really backed in the youth, we didn’t really recruit too hard,” Allen said.
“They gave me this first year to have a good look, see what we can do and hope these kids come on.
“From preseason, I don’t see any reason that a lot of them can’t take the next step and become really good senior footballers.”
Getting key position players was another area the club wanted to address, and they filled that with Ash Allen and Welsh.
“We mentioned we needed a key position player, and that’s where Max came in,” Allen said.
“Ash, my brother coming across with me, he can fill another key position role, so we were pretty happy with two new key position players.”
The Kangaroos’ Under-19s team was very successful in 2025, making it all the way to a grand final, and a few players are set to graduate to the senior team for 2025.
Jackson Liddle, the 2024 Under-19s best and fairest, put pen to paper to return to Starling Road.
Star midfielder Jake Gains also returns, along with 2024 leading goalkicker Mark Seedsman.
Throughout preseason, the goal has been to increase the skills of the team in hopes to build on missing finals in 2024.
The Kangaroos decided to part ways with coach Daniel Charles after finishing seventh, and Allen marks a new era of Officer football.
“It’s honestly the willingness and effort to put in and learn,” Allen noted on what has impressed him so far at Officer.
“I’ve had a real big focus on the fundamentals.
“We’ve really had a focus on those basic skills, and we’re slowly implementing things throughout the preseason.”
