However, no competitive football was played among the Suns’ youth ranks due to postponements implemented by Football Victoria, stemming from the recent COVID-19 spike in Melbourne.
While National Premier League juniors resumed in the south and east conferences, the Goulburn Valley sides sat out, and will be forced to weigh up their options without a start date penned for the foreseeable future.
“For the remainder of the qualifying rounds we opted out. With the Melbourne hotspots, we didn’t want anyone coming into the region,” Suns president Michael Crisera said last week.
“At the moment it is up in the air. FFV resumed junior play in the south and east, but for the north and west regions they have postponed games. I don’t know what will happen in the next month.”
However, while points weren’t on offer, the juniors still managed to get a football fix in.
“We had a practice match against the Cobram Roar (recently) which was a good day out,” Crisera said.
“We took all of our junior sides down from under-12s to under-16s, and it was a good test to see where we are at.”
Although a lack of competitive play has been frustrating, Crisera noted plenty of work was being done on the training park to keep the skills sharpened.
“Obviously, you can’t compare it to games, but at this time there is an opportunity to really focus on training and individual development,” he said.
“We are just grateful for our members’ patience. Our technical director Billy Marshall has done a great job, as have all our junior coaches.”
Meanwhile, the Suns’ senior sides have been going steady at McEwen Reserve gearing up for a July 25-26 start date.
But with clarity surrounding the competition unavailable at this point, Crisera was skeptical about whether or not the league would begin on schedule.
“We just don’t know at this stage,” he said.
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