The season started with an excellent come from behind win against local rivals Ormond. We then followed this up travelling to Peninsula with only 17 fit players and unfortunately came up short. The season continued with up and down results with a number of losses being attributed to being short on fit players. Although we finished 5th again with 8 wins the season provided a number of positives. These positives included improvement from most if not all individual players, which in turn lead to us winning the last 3 games of the season in convincing fashion. Another of the positives is the valuable experience received in the seniors for at least 18 or so eligible Under 19 players, which will help the Club in the near future.
The Under 19’s are in a fortunate position whereby the majority of the team is eligible for under 19’s again next year and they are again looking forward to improving and having additional success on the field.
Good to see the captain Scott Ebbott win both the competition and the Club’s Best and Fairest in his first year of Under 19 football. Sam Gall had an excellent first year at the footy Club finishing runner-up in the Best and Fairest. Matt Oswald the general on the backline unfortunately missed a few games through injury, but was still able to poll enough votes to finish 3rd in the B&F. A big improver during the year was Matt Rieniets who won the Most Determined trophy. Matt was also rewarded with 4 senior games to finish off the season. Cameron Cullis won the Mark Johannsen memorial trophy for best team player. Cam has done a number of important jobs on the field for the under 19’s not just for this year, but over the past 3 seasons. Good to see Cam was rewarded with a few senior game during the year.
Corey Riscalla stepped up in his role as assistant coach this year looking after the midfield. Corey only recently finished playing senior football and this has helped him in his efforts to help the players improve. Peter Rogerson as always was again very helpful in his role as assistant coach on match day and at training. Both Peter and Corey worked tirelessly to get the best out of the playing group and their contribution should be applauded.
This year Jamie Stanfield moved into the Team Manager role and did a great job. Jamie was so organised both with the players and also organising parents roster. Grant Cosgriff was our regular runner and he should be commended for his role in delivering the correct messages to the players. Alan Jones was our statistician and he certainly helped the coaching staff deliver some accurate messages to the playing group. A big thank you to all the Trainers that helped in particular our regulars Carly and Sarah. Thanks to all the parents who regularly helped out during the season in one of the many duties required to make the team go around each week.
I would also like to thank the senior coaching panel for their help and support of the under 19’s and also all of the committee members who work hard throughout the season to make this a very successful and enjoyable club. A big thank you to every Under 19 players who participated during the year, we really enjoyed the season.
John Cesario
UNDER 19 COACH
