The Mininera and District Football League hosted a junior football discussion night last week with most clubs able to get the necessary numbers to field a team but the Eagles were the exception.

The club currently has less than 10 players with new Eagles president Regan Hughes hoping to get a few more to fill the team.

“We have got about four players at the moment,” he said.

“Even if we can get to a minimum of 12 players which would be enough to get a game going.

“We lost seven top-age players after last season and we were hoping the age group would be changed to under-17 but the league did not do that.”

Hughes is working hard to ensure the team can take to the field but is unable to guarantee the extra numbers will be found.

He said there is still some time to get the team numbers increased to a significant amount.

“We are still trying to get a side together but the other is nobody wants to take on the junior coaching role,” he said.

“It is a difficult role but it can be really rewarding.”

Hughes said he expects a final decision to be made soon.

“In the next couple of weeks we will have a final answer as to if we will have a team or not,” he said.

“If we cannot get a team set, then I would try and encourage them to go to another club.

“We still want kids playing footy at the end of the day, so we would be encouraging them to go to another club and get a game just to stay involved.

“If anyone is interested in coming down, the under-16.5 team trains on Monday and Wednesday nights.”

The Ararat Eagles will kick off its 2018 Mininera and District Football League season against Tatyoon on April 14.