After what I thought was our best performance of the year last week against St Peters, who only 2 weeks ago hammered us by 11 goals, it was a disappointing way to end the year not being able to put Ajax away after leading by 3 goals midway through the third term. After winning last years grand final and being promoted to div 1 all the boys were looking forward to the challenge of matching it with the best, however on the eve of the start of the season we lost 4 of our best players, 2 leaving to other clubs, 1 to long term injury and the other to tennis. These losses proved to be too much for us in div 1 particular against the super teams. We subsequently got put back down to div 2, where we found the competition extremely competitive and struggled for the first few weeks, until all the boys really started clicking together and playing some fantastic footy culminating in us getting to within one game of the making the grand final. Given all the difficulties we encountered throughout the season both Marty my assistant coach and I were extremely proud of the way all the boys never gave up hope of making the grand final even when we had only won one game.
Even though we lost some of our better players at the start of the season we managed to gain some fantastic new talent from other clubs, particularly from Murrembeena where Josh Godden, Jackson Courtney and Charlie Officer ended up having tremendous years, and if not for those three I personally thought we may have struggled even more. Another new boy in Lorenzo Venturi from Brighton Beach who got off to a slowish start but quickly exploded to being one of our most reliable and versatile players for the season. Eden Lans-Davis also new from Frankson like Lorenzo proved to be a valuable addition as he was able to play in various positions on the field. I was also thrilled with a group of other boys who watching them play last I thought would need to further develop their games if we were to be competitive this year, and they certainly didn’t let me down, and I’m referring to Louis McAsey, Liam Kenny, Jake Mongey, Michael G, Will Bullock, Frank Morris, Aussie Parker and Ben Marron who should all take away enormous confidence in that when they really focus and are committed to the play they all can match it with the best talent in the SMJFL. Well done to all you boys I am really proud of you.
Like the above mentioned boys needed to step up for us to be competitive, our other boys who were all coming off strong years last season needed to also go to a new level, which they all did, even though some of them like Marcus White, Callum Charlton, Oscar Buscombe, and Max Hanna all had their problems with injuries which ultimately may have had an impact on our performance. Our captain Chris Perkins had another great year leading by example often repelling attacks from opposition. He was superbly aided by other leaders in Ferg Murray, Josh Snowsill, Tom Maginness, and Tom Goldsmith, who all could have captained the team, great work guys you all made Marty and my job a whole lot easier. I would also like to thank other boys who helped out throughout the season from both div 5 team and under 13. Even though we didn’t quite get there, which I’m sure we would have given it an almighty shake, I would still feel very proud of the way all you young men played throughout the year given all the difficult circumstances you all were faced with, well done.
