Footballer Charlie Scanlon eager to play for WDFNL club Kolora-Noorat in 2023

The Melbourne-based university student will return to the Warrnambool and District league competition in 2023, eager to entrench himself in the Nick Bourke-coached side.

Scanlon, 20, was a teenager when he played a part in the Power's 2019 flag.

He was in and out of the side that season.

"I never really had a full crack at senior footy, never a full season," Scanlon said.

"The time is right to have a proper crack. I want a really good run at senior footy to see what I can do and really prove it to myself."

Scanlon brings a winning mindset to the Power.

His past two senior seasons - 2019 with Kolora-Noorat and this year with VAFA side Latrobe - resulted in flags.

"I won two junior ones before that as well, so I am on a bit of a hot streak," he said.

But in between the success the midfielder has endured two years without football.

First there was the cancelled 2020 season - a product of the COVID-19 pandemic - then serious injury.

"In 2021 in a practice match I snapped my syndesmosis and it forced me to miss that year," Scanlon said.

"It was tough. From memory it was about three months off my feet and in a cast or a moon boot but the problem was it took me six weeks to work out that I'd done it.

"It's an injury you can sort of live with but as a 19 or 20-year-old you get surgery on it now so it doesn't hamper you for the rest of your career. It took a while (to get surgery) which meant I ended up missing the whole season."

Scanlon, who is studying secondary teaching after switching from engineering, said it was important for him to play in the city this year.

He joined Latrobe through university connections and had an injury-free season.

"The quality is a bit less than down here but I don't think it's about that really - it's about meeting people, making connections down there and I was lucky enough to win a flag as well," Scanlon said.

"Latrobe has a really good ag program which attracts a lot of country boys - people like me essentially who move from the country and they all have the same issues, worries and troubles.

"It's good to bounce off them. If I needed help with anything they were really supportive and the coaching staff down there were ex-uni students in their late 20s so they completely understood.

"At one point I was going to miss footy and I just came home because I needed a break and they were completely understanding."

Scanlon will maintain his ties with Latrobe and plans to train there on weeknights before driving the three-hour journey home for games.

"As it's a uni team, they have a lot of people who are doing what I am doing," he said.

"They will live down there during the week and come home on the weekends."

Kolora-Noorat is coming off a preliminary final finish.

The Power were overrun by eventual runner-up Panmure in a thriller in early September despite having a chance to win after the siren.

Scanlon believes the Power, who have also regained exciting youngster Henry Kenna, will be "a bit of an unknown" next season but still capable of being a damaging opponent.

"There's a bit of change in the sense of a few boys moving away, young boys moving back," he said.

"I am really keen and I think we'll be thereabouts.

"We still have the talent and have older guys who put us in good stead for nearly a decade now."

Kolora-Noorat - one of the competition's regular finals contenders - will start pre-season training in early December.

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