Junior interleague football returns to the region for the first time post-COVID on Sunday, May 5, 2024, with under 17 and under 14 teams to descend on Portland and Heathmere for a round-robin tournament.

The district league under 14 team will be coached by South Rovers' Corey McLaren.

Nowell, the senior coach at Allansford, said there was a lot of exciting names in the mix as he worked towards naming his final squad in the coming weeks.

"I've just got the clubs to nominate their top five or six players and it's still a work in progress, there's some really good lads on the list," he said.

"We'll have our first training session (on Wednesday, April 17) at Allansford and go from there. It is a nice thing to be able to coach the guys and get this opportunity. I'm looking forward to being able to showcase the skills in our football netball league.

"Sometimes these kids can be forgotten about a little bit but after being involved in the district league in the last five years, there's a lot of skilful and talented young footballers who deserves the opportunity.

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity to show what the Warrnambool and District league has to offer from a junior perspective, there's a lot of really good young lads."

The highly-regarded coach said it was important to bring both a structural element to the group but also allowing them to enjoy their footy and the experience.

"We'll definitely have some structure to the way we play, just having a look at the nominations sent through by clubs, a few of these kids are already playing senior footy," Nowell said.

"We want to play a nice, fast game style and we'll train that over the next month or so and get that right.

"Most of them selected have played senior footy so they will be used to being coached with some structure so there will be that element of professionalism.

"We want to showcase these young lads and turn up each game with some structure and putting our best foot forward."