The Lions junior side was withdrawn from the competition in the week leading up to its opening round clash with Swifts due to a severe lack of playing numbers, with Matheson revealing the club had just four potential under 14 players.

All four have now all stepped up to the under 17 ranks.

Matheson said it was extremely disappointing to have withdrawn the team and believed the club had an uphill battle to re-establish it in 2009.

``We have to find 18 kids who want to play, it is going to be very hard,'' Matheson said.

``But just can't shelve until the end of the year, we have got to think about it now.

Matheson said the club had 12 under 14 players in 2008, plummeting this year due to some players leaving for new clubs and others forced out of the division because of age.

``Juniors are the lifeblood of the club, if we don't have juniors we haven't got anybody coming through the ranks to be senior players.

Matheson said it was hard to attract players, especially youngsters, to Great Western with their drought-stricken ground in poor condition.

``I think the fact that our ground hasn't been up to scratch, people look at Central Park and Alexandra Oval in Ararat and why would they send their kids to play on a dustbowl out at Great Western?,'' he said.

``If we had have been able to get water to our ground we would have been playing on it right from the start, but it is just one of those things.''

Matheson said the Lions were also struggling for numbers in the under 17s, with the team winless after the opening five rounds of the season.

``With the four on the ground from the under 14s we haven't got a bench, so we have got 17,'' he said.

``I don't know whether rising fuel prices have got anything to do with it, with parents not wanting to drive them out here too.''