Rutherglen co-coach Dylan Van Berlo will rely on the natural improvement of the club's younger brigade next year as the Cats strive for their firstfinals appearance since 2017.

The Cats finished second bottom in 2023 but have improved sharply since Van Berlo arrived as co-coach in 2024.

They finished seventh in 2024 with a 7-11 record and made further improvement this season to finish sixth with a 10-7-1 record after playing out a thrilling draw against Tallangatta in round 5.

The Cats boast two of the biggest stars of the competition in Van Berlo and Marty Brennan who returned to his junior club this year.

Brennan was touted as one of the biggest signings of the off-season and delivered on the hype after claiming the Barton medal.

However, Van Berlo said he had found the going tough so far over this offseason in regards to attracting another one or two high-profile recruits.

The Cats are not alone in that regard with most clubs in the TDFL struggling to land recruits in one of the quietest off-seasons in recent memory.

Van Berlo said there were still plenty of positives at the Cattery with departures kept to a bare minimum and some talented younger players with plenty of upside

"This week is our fourth week of pre-season training," Van Berlo said.

"We are like most clubs and trying to get a few more recruits into the club but we are having a hard time doing that at the moment.

"It seems to be fairly quiet across the league in general in terms of recruiting.

"I personally haven't seen or heard of too many recruits at other clubs.

"All the whole list except for one player has recommitted which is pleasing because player retention is also important.

"The exciting part from a coaching point of view, is there are a lot of young players in the side so there is plenty of development to come.

"We are still working on hopefully getting some top end players to help them out.

"We are certainly not done yet recruiting-wise, just nothing has fallen into place quite yet."

Rutherglen's improvement this year was highlighted by wins against eventual finalists Chiltern, Beechworth and Thurgoona.

The Cats also only went within one point of causing a huge boilover against eventual premier Kiewa-Sandy Creek in round 15.

Van Berlo felt natural improvement from the younger players could lead to the Cats making further inroads up the ladder.

"I think the average age of the list is in the low 20s so there is still a lot of natural growth in the list," he said.

"Obviously a lot of that growth will be what we can teach the boys as a coaching group.

"I guess the other exciting thing is that our thirds won the flag this season and there are a handful of boys in that side that will come up and potentially play some senior football.

"Mitch Francis co-captained the thirds this season and won the league medal.

"Aidan Berriman was also co-captain and was top age this season and will be entering his first year of senior football next year.

"Dusty Fisher will potentially look to play thirds in the O&M but if that doesn't work out could be another teenager pressing for selection in our senior side.

"So we certainly have some good young talent emerging which is good."

Brennan has recommitted to the Cats for next season but is yet to start pre-season training.

"Marty is still overseas and is in Canada at the moment, working and doing a bit of bike riding as well," Van Berlo said.

"We hope to see him back at training in the early new year.

"Michael Cooper is also away at the moment playing up north but recently broke his thumb and had surgery last week.

"So he is likely to miss the next two months.

"Michael is playing for Pint who is coached by Mark Whiley and are on top of the ladder at the moment.

"A few of us went up there to watch them play a couple of weeks ago which was a good experience."