Football
11 April, 2026
HDFNL 2026 preview: Cougars running it back
The Kaniva Leeor United senior football team aims to build on the momentum of their 2025 season, which marked their first finals appearance since joining the Horsham District Football Netball League.
The Cougars showed significant improvement, securing six consecutive wins in the latter part of the season to reach the finals.
Returning as co-coach alongside 2025 league-leading goalkicker Jacob Eats, Jonno Hicks said the season was a fitting reward for the team.
He also acknowledged that the group learned valuable lessons after their elimination final loss to Laharum.
“It was a positive year and was really exciting to make our first finals series in the league,” Hicks said.
“We had a strong second half of the year where it felt like we were improving, but that finals game against Laharum, they were obviously too good for us.
“We had some injuries late in the year and nearly beat ourselves up to make finals, so there are good lessons to be taken out of that in terms of the fitness levels required to really compete with those top sides.
“But it was nice to see the guys who have put in a lot of hard work over the last couple of years get some reward.”
Helping the side build on last year will be the continuity of having the same playing group return, including Tyler Roos and Josh Clayton, as well as the recruitment of Lachy Bates.
“All of our recruits from last year will be back, so our group is effectively the same team,” Hicks said.
“We had a couple of guys have surgeries in the offseason, so it might be a slower start for them, but otherwise a pretty full list to start the season.
“We will have changes with some kids who played in the 17s grand final last year and who already had a taste of senior footy, we’re really excited to have them playing seniors full-time, and they’ve been training well in the preseason.”
With players like Roos, Clayton and Blake Dodson having standout seasons in 2025, Hicks expects the local group of players to lift their game.
“It will be great to see guys like Charlie Maddern with a better preseason under his belt, taking on more midfield responsibility,” the co-coach said.
“Even just the numbers at training and the intensity, I think it’s been better than it has been in the past, so if we can lift our standard across the board even by five per cent, it makes a huge difference on game day.”
Hicks acknowledges that the group wants another taste of finals footy, but identified decision-making and consistency as the key areas he wants to see improvement in.
“Everyone else's expectations of us might rise, but it's just about getting the best out of our group,” he said.
“It’s hard to control how good our opposition may be, so it’s just trying to get the best out of what we’re doing, keep to our processes and be more consistent.
“We’ve had a bad habit in the past of letting one or two goals turn into three or four, so just being a bit calmer with the football and better with our decision making.”