After months of preparation the South East Football Netball League (SEFNL) begins in earnest this weekend, with eight teams looking to knock Berwick from its premiership perch. The Gazette’s SEFNL writer, DAVID NAGEL, takes a close look at all teams’ chances for the season ahead…
BEACONSFIELD
Coach: Clint Evans (4th year)
Last 5 years: 7-4-3-3-4 (11 wins)
B & F: Scott Meyer
Ins: Jordan Roberts (Northern Blues), Daniel Galante (Noble Park), Chris Kelf (Belgrave), Kane Airdrie (Strathfieldsaye), Luke McConnell (Howlong), Daniel Giansiracusa (Western Bulldogs).
Outs: Taylor Joyce (Noble Park), Tyson Mitchem (Noble Park), Kane Hughes (Kooweerup), Ben Kerrigan (Kooweerup), Damien Johnston (Casey Scorpions), Daniel Johnston (Casey Scorpions), Shaun Pollard (retired).
Dreams: The Eagles only finished percentage away from a double-chance last year. A group of hungry youngsters joins an always consistent core group and they sneak their way into a second semi-final. As they showed in 2014 -anything can happen from there!
Reality: The top end is good, and Roberts and Galante add to that, but boy have they lost some depth. The core remains, but those players can’t possibly improve; they play near their best footy more often than any other group in the competition. It’s the periphery, and the impact of new players, that will dictate the Eagles’ finishing position.
Nightmare: Doveton, Pakenham and Tooradin surge past the Eagles – who finish seventh.
Evans says: “Yeah we’ve lost a few but I think we’ve got more flexibility. Jordan Roberts and Kelfy will allow Scotty (Meyer) to play a bit more up forward and Kane(Airdrie) will give us stability down back. Everyone’s writing us off but I think we’ve got some good strength in key positions and we’re an unknown quantity -which is exciting. We expect to play finals.”
Prediction: 6th
BERWICK
Coach: Rhys Nisbet (4th year)
Last 5 years: 2-5-5-5-2 (13 wins)
B & F: Madi Andrews
Ins: Riley Heddles (Frankston), Mark Weekes (Montrose), Patrick Johnson (Mazenod), Jake Wilson (Noble Park), Kurt Batt (Lang Lang).
Outs: Michael Manley (retired), Paul Vanschilt (retired), Brody Connelly (Port Melbourne), James Phillips (DWWWW), Chris McKay (Cora Lynn).
Dreams: A sustained period of dominance. On paper, last year’s premiers are stronger than last season with a handful of quality inclusions keeping things fresh. With luck in running they should be there on September 17 to defend their title.
Reality: They lost to Cranbourne three times last year before winning the one that counts. Their four gun recruits, Michael Johnson, Ben Kearns, Michael Riseley and Ash Smith, played 77 of a possible 80 games so the important things went right. Despite the hype – they’re clearly not dominant yet.
Nightmare: The club won all four premierships in 2015 so this could be the ultimate premiership hangover. The most obvious nightmare is long-term injuries to key players. The man-management of Nisbet, with their last bye in round 10, will be very important over the last eight rounds of the season.
Nisbet says: “I suppose we will be looked at differently but I’m not sure how that’s going to play out yet. All we’ve focussed on is training harder and trying to raise the bar because we know teams are coming and we can’t rest on our laurels. We’ve got 65 players on our senior list so we’ve never had more faith in our depth.”
Prediction: 2nd
CRANBOURNE
Coach: Simon Goosey (2nd year)
Last 5 years: 1-2-2-2-1 (14 wins)
B & F: Max Gearon
Ins: Shaun Marusic (Kooweerup), Aaron Bower (Devon Meadows), Luke Clark (Chelsea), Kory Grant (Kooweerup).
Outs: Curtis Barker (Devon Meadows).
Dreams: We don’t need to be rocket-scientists here do we? The Eagles overcome a horrific grand final record -they’ve lost the last four remember- to add a well-deserved second flag to their 2011 success.
Reality: The reality is that the Eagles can almost smell and touch the dream. Barring a horror run of injuries they should make the top two again and progress to the bridal waltz. Expect Marusic and Clark to add class, and youngsters like Zak Roscoe, Dylan Cavalot and Anthony Fischer to bring an injection of freshness to the group.
Nightmare: A 5pm phone call from the club is made on September 17. “I’d like to make a group booking for the psychiatrist couch please.”
Goosey says: “We’ve brought in a couple to strengthen the group but there’s no doubt the improvement will come from within. We’ll be a lot fitter this year and I’m excited with the kids coming through. We haven’t got our heads in the sand, we’ve addressed the mental side of the grand final losses and we just deal with it and move on.”
Prediction: Premiers
DOVETON
Coach: Stephen O’Brien (1st year)
Last 5 years: 6-6-6-7-5 (9 wins)
B & F: Russell Gabriel
Ins: Aaron Davey (Palmerston), Ryan Hendy (Garfield), Kyle Hendy (Garfield),
Andrew Henwood (Glen Waverley), Dale Johnson (Bairnsdale), Michael Tilmouth-Turner (Palmerston).
Outs: Jake Dermott (Glen Iris), Frank D’Agostino (Yarra Junction), Mitch Davies (Bunyip), Michael Laszczyk (Bunyip).
Dreams: Gabriel and Jarrad Boumann become the dominant big-man pairing in the league, Davey has a blinder, and the Doves make it through to the preliminary final.
Reality: The Doves have been flat-track bullies for the last couple of years. They’ve won just two of 17 against Beaconsfield, Berwick, Cranbourne and Narre Warren, gone two each with Pakenham, and won 11 from 12 against Hampton Park, Officer and Tooradin.
Nightmare: They played in three games decided by single-figure margins last year and won them all. They lose those and get replaced by either Pakenham or Tooradin as a finalist.
O’Brien says: “Finals are a must and when we get there hopefully we’re fit and healthy and we’ll see where we go from there. It’s a good competition; I think people undersell this competition a bit. The stats alone tell us we’re seven to eight goals on average behind last year’s finalists. We’re coming from a long way back but I’m confident we can make some inroads.”
Prediction: 5th
HAMPTON PARK
Coach: Matt Shorey (1st year)
Last 5 years: 4-Last-Last-Last-Last (2 wins)
B & F: Nathan Allen
Ins: Jordan Derbyshire (Edi-Asp), Tim Mavric (Edi-Asp), Sean Winsall (Kooweerup), Daniel Langley (Cora Lynn), Matt Langley (Cora Lynn), Nathan Langley (Cora Lynn), Scott Durdin (Mazenod), James Alexander (Dandenong).
Outs: Andrew Shipp (Gembrook).
Dreams: To get hold of Officer twice, catch a couple of others off guard and halt the run of four-consecutive wooden spoons.
Reality: It can happen. The Redbacks have gradually improved since hitting rock-bottom in 2012 and this looks to be their most talented outfit yet. There’ll be some real bad days again – but a lot more competitive days than we’ve seen in the past.
Nightmare: The Redbacks won two of their last four and only got beaten by Pakenham by 20 points towards the end of last year. Combine that with the inclusion of some quality recruits and there’s finally some expectation at Robert Booth Reserve. A winless season would shatter that momentum.
Shorey says: “We’d love to play finals but the reality is we’d love to get to that five to six game mark and be in a great position heading in to next year. I’m confident we can do that, and maybe pull off a surprise or two, but just bringing some new players into the club isn’t going to make it happen.”
Prediction: 8th
NARRE WARREN
Coach: Heath Black (1st year)
Last 5 years: 3-1-1-1-3 (11 wins)
B & F: Michael Collins
Ins: Heath Black (Mazenod), Darren Sheen (Maffra), Trent Cody (Noble Park), Grant Lofthouse (Mazenod), Jace Kelly (Mazenod), Jarrod Dalton (Mazenod), Dean Kelly (Waubra).
Outs: Kain Baskaya (work), Jackson Parker (work), Kerem Baskaya (Stony Creek), Ben Giobbi (Noble Park), Ryan Morrison (Noble Park), Lee Boyle (Clayton), Trent Papworth (Clayton), Steve Watson (Keysborough), Ben Wragg (Yarra Junction).
Dreams: Only e-Harmony has had more new introductions than Narre in the off season. It’s love at first site and Black earns his white stripes with the Magpies seventh premiership in 11 years.
Reality: Welcome back to reality. After three years with end-of-season percentages of 338, 261 and 322, the Magpies ended last season with 166. That’s still an excellent return but we had to judge them against such an exceptionally high standards. Their first three games against Doveton, Beaconsfield and Tooradin would appear to be the perfect spirit-level test.
Nightmare: The chemistry doesn’t mix. Losing five of their last 11 games in 2015 is the forerunner to being September spectators this season.
Black says: “We’ve had a lot of personnel changes so I understand the outside perception, but inside the club we know where we’re at. It’s a new phase for the club, with new training techniques, and the players are excited by that and they’re up and about. We’re covered some pretty big losses with like for like I think.”
Prediction: 4th
OFFICER
Coach: Brad Jones (3rd year)
Last 5 years: 8-8-9-6-7 (2 wins)
B & F: Ben Tivendale
Ins: Ilan Osman (Thorpdale), Brenton Cowell (Pines), Nick Redley (Longwarry), Scott Rossborough (St Francis Xavier).
Outs: Chris Potalej (Gormandale), Tom Marks (Belgrave), Chris Power (Belgrave), Anthony Vanin (Mt Eliza).
Dreams: The Kangas won seven games in 2014, their best output since 2006, but slipped back to two wins last year. The best they can hope for is to win the four close games they lost in 2015 and get back to that 2014 level.
Reality: Harsh! While all other clubs have invested heavily during the off-season the Kangaroos have remained stagnant. Lock in rounds 6 and 11 -the two games against Hampton Park- for a true guide to their finishing position.
Nightmare: Hampton Park and Tooradin – the two teams locked at the bottom with the Kangas last year- have improved. The nightmare is wooden – and it looks like a spoon!
Jones says: “We’ve pumped the work in to the boys, and I doubt there’ll be a fitter team in the league this year. A lot of our more talented players are coming in to that 22-23 age bracket and should be ready to produce their best footy. Two years ago we weren’t far away, so if we can play to our potential and get a consistent output from our mid-range players we should go OK.”
Prediction: Last
PAKENHAM
Coach: Steve O’Bryan (4th year)
Last 5 years: 5-9-4-4-6 (8 wins)
B & F: Dean Blake
Ins: Ben Fraser (Blackburn), Luke Walker (Kooweerup), Kym Jones (St Albans),
Aaron Creasey (Lang Lang), Jesse Bates (Eildon Thornton), Steven Wright (Silvan), Sam Blackwood (knee).
Outs: None of note.
Dreams: The Lions are one of Australia’s most successful football clubs, with 30 premierships to their name. O’Bryan makes it 31 and joins an illustrious honour roll of leaders.
Reality: The Lions have already dropped down the alphabetical ladder, with ROC changing its name to Officer, but that’s the only table the Lions will slip down this year. It’s worth remembering they defeated Narre Warren and Cranbourne, and went down to Berwick by just six points, in the early rounds last year before injuries took their toll. They’re the real deal this year!
Nightmare: Only twice in the last 11 years have the Lions not had a winning record, last year being one of them. If that’s repeated it will be a disaster considering the investment.
O’Bryan says: “I think we’ve assembled a really good list but that means nothing if we can’t put it all together. We targeted a couple of key forwards (Fraser and Bates) and Kymbo (Jones) is back, which will help us in the ruck, so there are no excuses this year. We haven’t fielded a full-strength side during the pre-season so we’re sort heading in to the unknown.”
Prediction: 3rd
TOORADIN
Coach: Lachie Gillespie (2nd full year)
Last 5 years: 9-3-8-8-8 (2 wins)
B & F: Adam Galea
Ins: Matt Livermore (Emerald), Nathan Page (Casey Scorpions), Nicholas Lang (Casey Scorpions), Andrew Dean (Rye), Jason Kestle (Hastings), Elliott Hunt (Stingrays 2014), Jack Murphy (East Burwood).
Outs: Matthew Wade (Swan Hill).
Dreams: When it comes to dreams 2012 is the benchmark – a preliminary final berth. They won’t get that far this year but could be a finals contender with some luck in running.
Reality: The Seagulls are likely to be the most improved side in the competition, with a quality influx, but are coming from that far back that it may not translate to an improved ladder position. They’ll aim for the stars -but may be another season away.
Nightmare: The Seagulls are coming off their worst season since 2008. If they don’t improve on those two wins some questions are going to be asked.
Gillepsie says: “We stripped everything back last year and even though we didn’t get the wins on the board I was happy with the season. Now it’s time to take the next step forward. We’ve brought in players who have played a higher level and they’re showing the young kids the way and lifting the standard at training. We’ve got more depth and will have more maturity this season.”
Prediction: 7th
