It may be only November, but the fire is already rising at South Wangaratta, with the Devils commencing their preseason last week.

Just over two months since the AWFA grand final, Wangaratta City’s men and women have launched into preseason training, with players blowing out the cobwebs and ticking the legs over ahead of another tilt at glory.

Despite a lacklustre 2025 which saw them finish seventh and knocked out of the finals at the earliest opportunity, numbers and energy were encouraging at the open age men’s training on Thursday.

“We had 43 people on the pitch and probably another 10 at the ground with the boys and probably had another 15 who weren’t at training,” senior coach Vitaly Leschen said.

“From my perspective, it’s the most numbers I’ve seen at a ground in November in my life.

“I think it’s just building on from last year - we managed to get a good environment, that was entirely driven by the players.

“As coaches, we may have set some guidelines but the players were the ones responsible for the environment at the end of the day.

“There was excitement around the club last year but there’s an excitement around what we can achieve next year, and hopefully it continues.”

While no new players signings have been announced to potentially help lift the Devils back up the ladder, Leschen said maintaining the current crop of players was his immediate aim.

“My main priority was locking away everyone from last year - obviously we had a new team so it was important we carried over and kept that core group together,” he said.

“We’ve re-signed Justin [Cirillo], we’ve re-signed Lorenzo [Cecchini], we’ve re-signed Brayden [Gasperotti], pretty much everyone who played last year, to my knowledge, is playing again.

“We’re looking to add a couple more players, but ultimately we’ve got 60+ players in the open age men as it is, so those couple added will need to be the right fit.”

The Devils are training twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays until 18 December, before resuming on Thursday, 13 January 2026.

An exact start date for the 2026 season has yet to be pencilled in by Albury Wodonga Football Association, but for the Devils, the next few weeks will be very laid back and enjoyable.

“We just want to get a bit of run in the legs, getting everyone back at the ground and around their mates,” Leschen said.

“Through December last year, we started a seven-a-side tournament which I think contributed to the culture we’ve got because we mixed everyone in.

“We’ll do that again this year which will be good, and then in the new year, that’s when we’ll get down to the nitty-gritty.”