Yarra Valley Water InFocus 2026 | Mitcham

By Davis Harrigan.

Tigers finding a new roar

It’s safe to say being back in Division One in 2026 will have Mitcham champing at the bit to find their way back to Premier Division.

Just one win last season, against Berwick in the middle of the year, sees the Tigers back down a division after being propelled into the top flight for the first time in 20 years, anchored by back to back premierships in 2023 and 2024.

Seven games were decided by 10 points or less, signs Mitcham were in with so many chances that just didn’t come to fruition. Coach Neil Winterton knows the club, the players, and the EFNL intimately, as he returns for season 11 at the helm. While a return to premier would be desirable, Winterton highlighted how important the season was for the Tigers.

“We were very competitive in a lot of games, but when the whip cracked, we couldn’t quite get the job done,” he said.

“It was a huge learning curve for us, and I think you learn more in defeat than you do in victory. We’ve taken a lot of lessons from some of the better teams in premier like Blackburn and Doncaster East that have ex-AFL and ex-VFL players. The learnings we went through last year is going to hold us in really good stead for the upcoming season.”

You’d be hard pressed to find a team who isn’t finding new ways to challenge and perform this year, and Mitcham is no exception. The desire is to be at the pointy end again, demonstrating a brand of football that showcases the club can compete on any given day, not just hinging on the recent premiership success.

“You’d be pretty naive if you think you can just pop back out what you did in those years and (think) it’s going to work. The division’s got a lot stronger, as it does pretty much every year,” Winterton said.

“We’ll look a little bit different in terms of the way we set up, the way we move the footy and stuff like that. Our ultimate aim is to finish as high as we possibly can to put us in a strong position to compete for the premiership, to win that and hopefully get ourselves back up in the premier division.

“That’s where the club had strived for so long to get ourselves up there, and it was really disappointing that we weren’t able to hold our spot in premier division.”

The Tigers will be focused on demonstrating and showcasing the same standard of football they strived to bring to the top division, in order to ensure they’ll be right in the thick of it when it counts.

“When the game was on the line, we just couldn’t quite get the job done for a variety of reasons,” Winterton said.

“We need to operate as if we’re still in premier division, because it’s a really tight, strong competition in Division One. Hopefully when we’re presented with those opportunities to close out a game, we’re good enough to do so.”

On the recruitment front, the Tigers have been prowling, and scored a host of great names, including one icon that won Mitcham the 2023 Grand Final in the final moments.

“We brought Mitch Johnson on as a playing assistant. Mitch has got a lot of experience at higher levels, he played a lot of footy for Southport. So getting him both on and off the field, he’s already had a big impact for us,” Winterton said.

“Guy Laughlin went interstate for work reasons, so we’ve got him back, and Jesse Cherry, who made the team of the year in 2024 did his knee playing basketball, so we’ve got him back.

“We’ve managed to get back pretty key players for us who were unavailable for a variety of reasons and coupled with some of our recruits, it’s going to hold us in good stead.”

Jesse Uren, premiership captain and Tigers stalwart, is leading the on-field team once again in 2026. Winterton’s ultimate goal is unison and an aligned voice to bring the side together.

“We’re wanting to make sure everyone’s on the same page and pulling in the same direction,” he said.

“There was probably an issue we had at times last year when things weren’t quite going our way, we probably splintered a little bit too easily. It’ll be up to myself to make sure that doesn’t happen, but also the on-field leaders, make sure everybody’s buying in, playing their roles out on field.”

Without the engagement of the players, it can make the little things challenging - so being that clear and decisive voice could make the difference.

“That positive reinforcement to guys when they do something that is a team rule or whatever it may be, that we’re getting the positive out on the ground, and most importantly that they’re adhering what we’re trying to do. If they’re not doing it, it makes it really difficult for everybody else to buy in,” Winterton said.

“Our leaders have got a huge role to play and I expect a lot out of them, but I’m super confident that they’ll be able to fill that role for us.”

Winterton keeps coming back to the club because the culture is vibrant and those at the club make it such a welcoming place to be.

“It’s an exceptionally well run club from the top down, from Matt McCubbin right down. He’s got a hell of a lot of support, a lot of people that help him out and make life as easy as possible for him,” Winterton said.

“We’re a really well supported club and really well run club, the playing group really buy in and are just a really coachable group, so it would be really difficult to walk away from Mitcham. As long as they’re interested in having me, I’ll probably be there.”

Boronia is the Tigers round one opponent, the sides not having matched up together since the 2019 Division Two Preliminary Final.

“It’s going to be a really tough proposition for us, and we’re going to get a really good indication of where we sit in the scheme of things. Boronia had an outstanding 2024, came up last year and acquitted themselves really well,” Winterton said.

“I’m expecting them to be one of the teams to beat, so it’s going to give us a really good indication of where we sit. It’s just one game and round one can throw up some strange results from to time, but I think it’s going to be a really good opportunity for us.”

Tigresses ready to sharpen claws

After a couple of lean seasons, there’s a real snarl in the Mitcham women’s camp - one that’s ready to find a big foothold in Division Three.

The 2025 season had a late resurgence, where 2024 was the opposite - wins early before falling off at the end of the year. Now though, with incoming coach Clint Martin at the helm - no stranger to women’s footy or the EFNL - and a raft of Tigers racking up the experience, there’s confidence building.

With stints at Knox, Kilsyth, and most recently the Waverley Blues, Martin is ready to dive in to see where the side can both develop and improve, looking for opportunities around every corner.

“I think the girls were looking for someone that could tweak what they already know. The groups been together for about four years, and they were looking for someone that could assist them with their development, and they’ve been fantastic so far,” Martin said.

A new coach brings new opportunity, and in the few months Martin has been working with the side, there’s already been an up tick in taking what was good and adding to it even further.

“I see a real opportunity from their previous year. They were not far out of the finals, and I’m looking to bring development to their game style, and also individual player development - they’re really hungry for that,” Martin said.

“I’ve been around for 12 years now, so I’ve looked at this as a real opportunity to assist this side with moving forward, and consistency for me is really important, especially in the first part of the year with the group.”

Consistency and development might be the ultimate football - and even sport - cliches, but Martin highlighted it’s been a feature of pre-season training, and that come round one, the preparation level will likely be a benefit.

“I can see that in pre-season training; we’ve been on a pre-season camp as a core group of players, and they got really involved in that, and three practice matches scheduled, just to get ready for round one,” he said.

“One thing the playing group told me is that they were a little bit slow to start last year, and I definitely want to work on that with them.”

That camp was a chance to bring the cohort together and find a cohesion about what was on the table for season 2026.

“It was to get everyone to know me as a coach, and I get to know them as a playing group. I think that’s important to get that bond being a new coach,” Martin said.

“It was also good to have the players sit around; we went through our players manual, all the goals we want to set ourselves for this year. We talked about that so we’re all on one page, so then there won’t be any surprise for the playing group, and we wall know we want to deliver for 2026.”

Another aspect of training has been getting miles into the players legs, but not simply by running laps around the training track. There’s been a concerted effort to hit a minimum baseline every session, but by integrating it into the skill work.

“We aim for four to five Ks per training session, and I’m not talking four to five Ks of pure running without the ball, most of our running is done with the ball. It is very uncommon if we do less than four Ks and most of that’s all skill work; we might do a block of running, but it’s coming up to the season,” Martin said.

“Now, it’s not so much the long distance stuff, it’s short sharp duration. The other thing is a number of players also play basketball and netball outside of footy, so I’m not worried about fitness levels whatsoever.”

Being a set of “fresh eyes”, Martin highlighted there’s been a lot of work done on the small stuff within the big game - and how that can translate into better outcomes on gameday, from the small stuff all the way through to a roll of the dice.

“For me, it’s around the players and positioning and what they can bring to the team. I’m really big on the one percenters, and I’ve told the playing group I really want to see the one percenters. If everyone improves their one percenters, then we have a better overall result,” Martin said.

“I’ve had discussions with players, focussing around where they want to play and where they can deliver their best footy, but I’ve also had discussions about where I can use them as a coach. It’s a team oriented sport, and having players being adaptable, it’s really important to me that I can just ask a player to do that.

“One thing I’ve really spoken to the players about is if they want to have a go at an area, then they can show me, and if I think they can deliver for the team, then I’ll give them an opportunity.”

The Tigress’ arguably have the most challenging start to the Division, as they go up against Division Four premiers Vermont at home in round one, before a date with Berwick on ANZAC Day. Even with the early assignments, the focus is still on working together as a side to be better from within. Georgia Fairbairn will skipper the side again, off the back of selection in the Division Three team of the year in 2025.

“For us, the challenge is that, we’re not going to be too worried about what the other teams are doing. We’re going to challenge ourselves more so than the other teams challenge us,” Martin said.