Scots has elected to step down from the Albury Wodonga Junior Football League (see back page) for this year due to falling numbers.

The school had its own junior Auskick program earlier this decade, but the coordinating staff member has moved on.

“We’re missing out on getting those kids at the beginning (of their football journey),” football coordinator Neale Poole said.

“We need to start working from the bottom up.”

The school appointed former AFL assistant coach and current Albury mentor Peter German as its director of coaching and while Scots won’t be involved in AWJFL this season, it’s still involved in school football and at Primary School Sports Association (PSSA) level.

Because the school didn’t field an under 14 team last year and hasn’t contested the youngest grade for a number of years, there’s been a loss of parental involvement.

“We’ve always had great committees and we’re lacking in that area as well at the moment,” Poole said.

It’s been only three years since Scots featured in the under 16 grand final.

“We just want to be able to say we’ve got a team, we’re ready to go and that’s our mission,” Poole said.

“We’re very confident we’ll be back in next year.”