Belief is building that Lara will field senior and reserves football teams and an A-grade netball side in the GFNL in 2027 after spending this year in recess.
The Cats have until October 1 to sign a coach and 45 players under a ‘Go/No Go’ criteria put in place by the Future Planning Group, which handed down its recommendations in mid-July.
Premiership player and former coach Shayne Stone is among several past players who have joined a working group driving the club’s operations as part of an acting committee led by Shana Miatke.
However, that number is now understood to be closing in on 40, which includes up to 12 graduates from Lara’s under-18 program.
Stone says the search for a coach is on in earnest.
“What we’re trying to do now is just put the feelers out to try and attract the coach… that wants to create something for themselves,” he said.
“Ideally, we want somebody with a bit of a profile. ‘
“But if we don’t get that, then it’ll be about still trying to aim for (20)27 and then build from there.
“Because I think… the junior program’s too good, the facilities are too good not to give it a red-hot crack.”
Stone admits they would have liked more time to put things in place for next year.
“Ideally, you’d want nine months to do this, but we’ve probably only got three,” he said.
“So, we’ve sort of just fast-tracked that on that course to go, ‘Well, let’s see what we can get’.
“Shana is leading the way in the admin side of things and doing all that and working with AFL Barwon.
“But, you know, for footy to get back up and going, it’s up to us as past players and people to give it a go and not leave it to someone else.”
In an email sent to junior families seen by K rock Football, Lara has expressed their gratitude for sticking by the club.
“2026 has been a hard year for our club, and it has been our junior families who have carried it,” the email said.
“You have kept turning up, kept your children in the game, and kept believing in Lara through a period of real uncertainty.
“That loyalty and resilience has not gone unnoticed, and it is the foundation everything we build from here will rest on.”
The communication also listed senior football and netball coaches as “our first priority”, while confirming a new executive structure “deliberately built to be supported by the subcommittees for the areas that matter most to families”.
The subcommittees include Junior Football, Junior Netball, Women’s Football, Senior Netball, Senior Football, Coaching, and Player Wellbeing.
It’s part of what the Cats have labelled a “New Era for Lara Football and Netball” in 2027.
“It is about building one joint football and netball club with a culture our families and players can be proud of: a club defined by passion, competitiveness and a genuine commitment to sustainability, so that the young players coming through our junior programs today have a strong, well-run club to grow into and thrive in for years to come,” the email continued.
“None of this happens without you. Your children are the future of this club, and your continued support through junior football and netball is what makes a 2027 return possible.”
X: @krockfootball
