Yarra Valley Water InFocus 2026 | Rowville

By Jared Beanland.

After tasting premiership success in 2023, Rowville have fallen short of that goal the past two years, losing out in the Preliminary Final both times.

Last year it was a deeper run into the finals than a 10-8 home and away record would have suggested. The Hawks have the quality to go far when they are at their best, however 2025 was a story of inconsistency down at Seebeck Oval.

Ben Wise enters his sixth year as Rowville’s senior men’s coach, and is optimistic about their chances this year, given the club’s performance during a 2025 season which presented many challenges regarding personnel.

“We’ve brought in another under 19s side, we’ve had some changes through the coaching ranks, so that kept us really busy. And we’ve brought on the senior women’s team as well. It’s been a very busy off-season," Wise said.

“The up-and-down year was sort of due to the facts of player availability, I think for most parts anyway. To play 51-52 through our senior side throughout the year is a pretty big number. I think most clubs that go through that problem, you wouldn’t have through that they would be playing off in a Preliminary Final."

"So it was pretty extraordinary to get to where we go to after a lot of season-ending injuries, playing a lot of kids, exposing these guys to senior footy before they were ready, and for them to be able to compete."

"For the club to have a reserves flag, a 19s prelim, and a seniors prelim finish, we’re really proud of the way we were able to galvanise back into the year, and have a decent crack at it. Even if we might have been a little bit underdone, or a little bit undermanned, we still fought it out to the end, which shows great character.”

The recent success of Rowville is due in no small part to the state league talent the club has managed to attract. However, with many VFL listed players in the squad, it creates a revolving door situation some weeks as players are called up to play at the higher level.

Wise has had to develop a robust on-field system to compensate for player unavailability, while also capitalising on the success of the development side, and under 19s.

“Take the injuries out of it, and obviously we just concentrate on the VFL stuff, we’re pretty lucky that the guys that are at VFL level are all Rowville people, and come from our program before going on to bigger and better things. So them being familiar with what I expect, how I do things, the system that we run, it’s not that big a deal when players are getting picked up at VFL level, because we’re able to bring in someone that’s been playing in the reserves, or shuffle the magnets so people can come in – it’s a solider-in, soldier-out mentality for me.

"It’s a privilege for us when we get the really talented guys back for games, and if we don’t have them all year – which has happened plenty of times – it’s just luck of the draw really. We either get them sometimes or we don’t.”

2025 was a successful year for the Hawks, and not only at the senior level. The development side won a hard-fought Grand Final over East Ringwood demonstrating the depth at the coaching staff’s disposal. The under 19s side also pushed for success, losing only 4 games during the home and away season before coming up short against Vermont in the preliminary final.

“I think with the amount of injuries we had last year there were a lot of guys who had played a bit of reserves footy, or under 19s footy that played a lot of senior footy last year. So their exposure at the level gave them confidence, and gave the coaches, the club, and the team confidence that they can play at the leve,"

"I think the guys who have been coming out of the under 19s level the last couple of years, like the Will Verrells, Seth Macdonalds, Mitch Gamels, Zach Tullochs, they’re only going to get better and better. We’re pretty lucky at Rowville that there were a lot of guys who came up and played pivotal roles in the absences of senior players, and just going to make our squad stronger for this year.”

To add to this array of talent, Rowville are welcoming back Kane Young, fresh from premiership glory with South Belgrave in Division 1. Having debuted in Rowville’s senior side in 2017, Young will return to bolster the Hawks backline stocks.

“From years gone by, I haven’t really added many people from outside the club. We were able to get Sugar (Kane Young) back after a year away with South Belgrave playing with mates, and once he did what he had to do at South Belgrave with friends of his, he was always going to come home, so we’re really rapt to have him. So he’s going to play an important part in a position on the ground that we lacked a little bit last year when injuries occurred. So he’s going to be really important.”

James Milner and Jordan Jaworski are two fresh faces at Seebeck Oval. Milner will be playing with the Oakleigh Chargers this season, while Jaworski comes to the Hawks from Wandin in the Outer East Football Netball League.

“James Milner comes down from Winston Grange (QAFL). We haven’t seen a lot of him with us at the moment, only because he’s been training with the VFL, and the Oakleigh Chargers."

"From what I know he’s really exciting, he’s played some really strong practice matches for Richmond VFL, and I think he’s going to start the year in the Coates League as a permit player. Jordan Jaworski is a mature-age recruit, he’s 24."

"He’s got a great connection with a few of the guys he played Eastern (Ranges) with, who are in our side already. He’s super fit, super talented, knows where the goals are, marks really well for his size, and uses the ball really well. He’s been at Box Hill for most of the preseason, and getting him full-time from Wandin will just add another avenue to goal for us. And I’ll be able to play him on a wing, and use him in other areas of the ground as well.”

Lachlan Conboy comes down to the EFNL from the Picola & District Football League, after having won their league Best and Fairest playing for the Berrigan Saints.

Despite coming off a preseason injury, he showed very promising signs in Rowville’s practice match against Edithvale Aspendale.

“We’ve got another guy called Lachie Conboy from up bush, someone who’s won a comp medal in lesser grades, he’s made Teams of the Year, he’s only a young kid, so he wants to challenge himself at a higher level, so he’s come on board just after Christmas."

"He knows where to find it, and I think he’s going to be a good addition to us once we get him up to speed, and the fitness levels he needs for senior footy.” 

“We’ve got young Tommy Swainston who’s done a preseason at Box Hill, I’m able to send him forward, back, and on the wing. He’s grown into his body a bit, he’s been winning time trials, down at Box Hill at Christmas."

"He’s been an exciting one, he played really well in his first hitout at senior level. I think he’s going to add something to us as well wherever we play him, he’s a real awkward matchup, he runs really well, he marks really well for his size, he’s 190cm I think.”

Rowville’s gameplan has stacked up against the best over the past couple of years, and Wise is backing his systems in again for year 2026. With the exciting new recruits joining the Hawks for this year, a few adjustments, moving some magnets, and luck with injuries could go a long way.

“You always make adjustments to evolve, certain sides combat you in different ways, if you don’t keep improving, and changing things year to year people are going to be able to shut you down really quickly."

"So we’ve made some adjustments, in how we use the footy, how we set up defence, and how we move the ball. So our system stacks up, and it shows that it has, we’ve just got to make little tweaks to it, and maybe make positional changes to really give us that different look. But we’ll be similar to what we’ve been doing, just little tweaks that will hopefully make us better.”

“Once you have a look at the way we roll out, I think you’ll see a fitter, stronger, and leaner side. Which will then work hand in hand with the way we want to play the game.”

Having made the finals four seasons in a row, and with the success of both the development, and under 19s sides, Wise feels that there is no reason the Hawks can’t make a deep run again in 2026. 

“It’s positive as always, we’ve had hard work that we’ve done over the last six or seven years, it’s always the expectation now to play finals, it’s something we’ve been able to develop over a sustained amount of time."

"When I first came to the footy club, we hadn’t won a final (in the top division of EFNL), and when we made it was a big tick in the box. But for now we expect to play finals every year, that’s what we set out to do, and we set out to win the flag."

"So the expectations are positive, and I feel that all the down from the president to the last person picked in the second team in the under 19s, it’s really positive. We want to see success at Rowville, and it’s a good place to be right now."

"There’s a big buzz, we’ve got two under 19s, seniors, reserves which have 70 odd players in them, and then we’ve got the senior women’s team as well. So when you put all that together Thursday night’s going to be jam-packed with a 120 inside.”

Rowville will play their first match of the year on Good Friday against last year’s Division One premiers South Belgrave at Seebeck Reserve.

An exciting time for the club sees Rowville re-introduce their Senior Women's side to the Deakin University Senior Women's competition.

It’s the first time since Rowville’s 2022 Grand Final win that the Hawks have had a team compete in the Senior Women’s competition. 

Grant Walker was announced at the end of 2025 as the new senior coach of the Senior Women's side, set to work alongside Craig Talbot.

Some of the key players to move across to Rowville this season include Kira Emery, playing most recently at Beaconsfield in 2024. Emery also featured at VFLW level with the Casey Demons and the Dandenong Stingrays in the Coates Talent League.

Jess Pacevski has also signed with the Hawks, having played 16 games in the last two seasons with the Casey Demons, previously playing in the league with Berwick.

The side has been selected to compete in Division Two of the Senior Women's competition, with a great opportunity to find their level.

Rowville host Kilsyth at Seebeck Oval at 9:30am tomorrow on Good Friday.