Tim Haines and Georgie Haines gearing up for a positive season at Culcairn

Tim Haines is coaching the Lions footballers while his wife, Georgie, has taken charge of the A-grade netball side and the couple's phones have been ringing non-stop.

While he stopped short of making any bold predictions for the season, Haines is delighted with the atmosphere building at Culcairn.

"There's a great feel about the club at the moment," he said.

"Netball's had about 55 out at the trials so we've got plenty of numbers, which is good.

"I know a few other clubs are struggling, which is sad to hear, but it's fantastic to know that Culcairn's got plenty of footballers and netballers.

"A fair few guys have come out to play footy, friends of friends, and with the netball, Georgie's got plenty of contacts so all the girls heard she was coaching and came along to trials.

"Unfortunately, they had to cut a few but you'd rather have too many than too few.

"It's awesome for the club and I really believe we're set up for a great year.

"The functions are going to be fantastic with plenty of young people around."

Culcairn sat ninth, with a 5-11 record, when the 2021 Hume League season was cut short after 16 rounds.

"I set myself a target to sign the majority of the guys up and to see if I could pick up one or two," Haines said.

"It's going to be a relatively young list this year; I think I'm the oldest one at the moment.

"We've got practice matches the next couple of weeks against Mitta and Collingullie and I'm pretty happy with where we stand.

ALSO IN SPORT

"We're getting good numbers to training and we're enjoying it, which is pretty much what I wanted to tick off from pre-season.

"I think we're in a good position to enjoy the season at least.

"In terms of where we finish on the ladder, we won't know that for a while because plenty of clubs are picking up players and there's always so much change between clubs.

"But our committee and the president are just happy we've got fantastic numbers to at least enjoy the year.

"After two years of COVID, when there's not been many social events, that'll be high on our priority list to enjoy the season.

"Whether we end up with more wins or less wins, we're just enjoying the time together."

The Lions have been training at Albury's Noreuil Park once a week, doing match simulation work with the umpires, with their other session in Culcairn.

Haines' side host the Murray Magpies in round one on Saturday April 2.

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