Brookton-Pingelly confident they can fill void left by former AFL player Leroy Jetta in the Upper Great Southern Football League this season

Former AFL player Leroy Jetta will leave a significant hole in Brookton-Pingelly’s side as they kick off their campaign in the Upper Great Southern Football League this weekend. Jetta played all 15 games for the Panthers last season and will be sorely missed after booting 44 goals. He was named in their best players five times and booted three or more goals on 10 occasions. Bronson Gledhill and Jacob Jennings both made 14 league appearances last year and have also transferred out from the Panthers along with Jack Blechynden. However, the Panthers are confident that they can again be near the top having recruited a number of players from Perth. The Panthers finished last season in third position before losing their first semifinal to the Narrogin Hawks, who went on to lose the grand final. New Panthers senior coach Michael Page, who took on the role in February, said he couldn’t wait for the new season to begin. “We have a lot of Perth guys playing for us this year, so that’s fantastic,” he said. “We will be competitive again and will be looking to go a few steps further. “The Perth guys train together so that’s handy and our training has been really good and every-one is really keen. We just want to be competitive and enjoy ourselves. “Everyone is pretty keen to just get back playing footy.” The Panthers held an intra-club practice match a few weeks ago with their travelling contingent making the trip. “The Perth guys came down and I got a little bit of a look at them so that was good,” he said. “I saw what I had to and heard what I needed to, so it was nice.” The Panthers are on the road to kick off their season on Saturday against Narrogin, the same team who knocked them out of the finals last season.