A preview of each club ahead of the 2017 Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 season.
The season commenced last Saturday, with West Preston-Lakeside edging out reigning premier Heidelberg in a classic at J.E Moore Park.
The Round 1 action continues over the next fortnight, with four matches scheduled this weekend, before Greensborough and Eltham meet in their annual Good Friday match next week.
It shapes as an intriguing campaign, with six clubs entering the 2017 season with next coaches from the previous year.
The remaining Round 1 matches are:
Friday April 7
Northcote Park v West Preston-Lakeside
Saturday April 8
Heidelberg v Bundoora
Hurstbridge v Macleod
Whittlesea v Montmorency
Friday April 14
Greensborough v Eltham
Continue below to see all the key ins and outs from each Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 team over the off-season.
BUNDOORA
Coach: Ricky Dyson (new)
Last year: 11 wins – 9 losses (4th)
IN: Kris Bardon (Rye), Matty Brown (Glenroy), Scott Dowell (Lalor), Todd Hughes (Lalor), Luke McLeod (Warrnambool), Brad Moore (Heidelberg West), Ben Nesci (South Morang), Blake Poyser (Lower Plenty), Blake Seeley (Lalor), Danny Younan (Taylors Lakes)
OUT: Trent Barbero (Hurstbridge), Troy Barbero (Hurstbridge), Damon Byrne (Brunswick)
Coach says: “Our expectations of ourselves are very high. In terms of us as a football club, Bundoora, we set a really high standard for ourselves and we have got very high expectations. We expect to go deep into finals. That’s the expectation of the football club, always has been and always will be.”
ELTHAM
Coach: Paul King (new)
Last year: 7 wins – 11 losses (8th)
IN: Stefan Courtot (Banyule), Paul Currie (Shepparton United), Sean Currie (Whitefriars), Sean Desmond (St Mary’s), Brandon Freeman (Panton Hill), Jesse Freeman (Panton Hill), Matthew Keys (Shepparton Swans), Stephen McIntyre (Shepparton United), Michael Tinkler (Shepparton Swans), Joel Tollie (St Mary’s)
OUT: Matthew Evans (Avondale Heights), Eamon Gilbert (Avondale Heights), Billy Glasgow (injured), Josh Lorey (Diamond Creek), Kieran Malone (Banyule), Chris McCabe (Panton Hill), Brendan O’Sullivan (Balwyn), Matthew Williamson (Avondale Heights), Sam Zito (Avondale Heights)
Coach says: “Both mine and the club’s ambition is to push for finals. I’m not setting any massive expectations, but I think a pass mark would be to sneak into the finals in what is going to be a very competitive competition.”
GREENSBOROUGH
Coach: Robert Hyde (new)
Last year: 13 wins – 8 losses (3rd)
IN: Jayden Wilkie (Katandra)
OUT: Nick Carnell (retired), Josh Doherty (North Heidelberg), David Ellard (Swan Districts), Michael Hooper (retired), Matthew Hyde (retired), Cameron Jordan (Panton Hill), Brent Ryan (Seymour), Luke Stanton (Hepburn)
Coach says: “We’ve still got the base of a good team but there is a heap of young kids that I want to give some game time to. We’ve been in the last eight grand finals in the under-19s and there really are some eight-plus quality kids there. If we can get them going for the future we can sustain a period of success for Greensborough.”
HEIDELBERG
Coaches: Charles Gaylard and Jason Heatley
Last year: 17 wins – 4 losses (Premier)
IN: Luke Bunker (Lower Plenty), Sam Grimley (Essendon), Shaun Huy (Shepparton United), Michael Looby (returned), Myles Smythe (Swan Athletic), Jake Truefeldt (returned)
OUT: Daniel Connors (Kambalda), Jarrod Hodgkin (Wodonga), Luke Hodgkin (Taylors Lakes), James Magner (Berwick), Masaki Miki (Heidelberg West), Dale Nolan (Lower Plenty), Allan Young (Watsonia)
Coach says: “It’s extremely hard to go back-to-back as we’ve seen over the past seven to eight years. We’re definitely putting in the hard yards and we really want to achieve that this year. It’s going to be highly competitive though. We always have a strong focus on our fitness, but we also want everyone to touch the football as much as possible. You can always get better at increasing the skill level of the team. We’re looking at ways to score a bit heavier as well. We’re putting that into practice during pre-season.”
HURSTBRIDGE
Coach: Trevor Little (new)
Last year: 14 wins – 5 losses (Division 2 premier)
IN: Trent Barbero (Bundoora), Troy Barbero (Bundoora), Callum Cook (Montmorency), Daniel Francis (Fitzroy Stars), Jack Grimes (Melbourne), Nathan Moro (South Morang)
OUT: Aron Burns (Hepburn), Chris Burton (Avenel), Dale Eames (Bakers Creek), Hayden Farrelly (Roxburgh Park), Kale Frost (Wallan), Rhys Frost (Wallan)
Coach says: “The club has been really positive and from a committee point-of-view, they’re not there just to make up the numbers. They’ve really been on the front foot, in terms of recruiting, and they know you don’t get many chances at Division 1 and they’re looking to make every post a winner. We’ve been able to retain our current list, which is exciting, so they can obviously see a bit of a vision but we only get one crack at it because those kids will start to explore their first division options if we’re not able to make it count this year.”
MACLEOD
Coach: Garry Ramsay
Last year: 14 wins – 7 losses (Runner-up)
IN: Jack Langford (Essendon VFL), Ned Mabon (Tatura),
OUT: Lachlan Considine (Byron Magpies), Kane Shaw (overseas), Matthew Yarwood (Banyule)
Coach says: “What’s happened is we have played ourselves into a situation where it is only going to be a premiership that totally satisfies us. In the past we would have been happy to avoid relegation or happy just to play finals but now we are in a situation where it is only going to be a premiership that totally satisfies us.”
MONTMORENCY
Coach: Ben Haynes
Last year: 9 wins – 9 losses (6th)
IN: Daniel Coghill (Doncaster East), Matthew Hunt (Narrogin), Josh Slattery (Mulwala), Nick Snowdon (Euroa)
OUT: Mitch Dillon (North Heidelberg), Ben Fennell (injured), James Gaul (Marcellin), Jake Kalanj (Doncaster), Nicholas Matthews (North Heidelberg), Liam Nunan (North Heidelberg), Marcus Smith (Tullamarine)
Coach says: “The more exposure we can give them to senior football the quicker it will happen for them and for us. There are some really good types in and among the group, real athletic 6’1” to 6’2” guys that are still raw in terms of their body shape and their physical development. Over time we are really confident if we can keep this group together we’re going to be super competitive.”
NORTHCOTE PARK
Coach: Matt McLennan (new)
Last year: 10 wins – 9 losses (5th)
IN: Jayden Brennan (Keilor), Nick Carter, Paul Dirago (Terang Mortlake), Jake Mills, Mohamed Mohamud (West Coburg), Doug Morris (Old Trinity), Matthew Perry (Ivanhoe), Jackson Starcevich (Shepparton United)
OUT: Daniel Chadwick (Thomastown), Wade Demasi (Barooga), Aaron Di Matteo (Essendon Doutta Stars), Mannon Johnston (Morwell), Ben McNiece (Essendon), Simon Potter (Deer Park), Wayne Schultz (Castlemaine), Harmit Singh (Vermont), Lachlan Thorp (Moama), Josh Turner (Doncaster)
Coach says: “Just knowing the connection I have with the boys at the club, and just improving the boys five or 10 percent. I think that’s probably the difference between finishing fifth and getting the double chance once you get to Cramer Street.”
WEST PRESTON-LAKESIDE
Coach: Rob Maiorana (new)
Last year: 8 wins – 10 losses (7th)
IN: Jackson Clarke (Wangaratta), Niall McDonagh (Elmore), Ahmed Saad (Coburg), Mathew Stokes (Essendon), Andrew Walker (Carlton), Dyllon Westra (Sunshine)
OUT: Matthew Belbasis (Keilor), Rhett Jordon (Norwood), Joseph Tegart (Queanbeyan)
Coach says: “The main objective will be to improve on last year. There are no big statements of making finals and grand finals – it’s a little bit of a reset around the place to make sure that we’re improving the culture, the leadership, the standards, professionalism and we’re hoping that with that, the footy results will take care of themselves. That may take a little while to set in, but certainly to improve on last year and set the platform for sustainable success moving forward.”
WHITTLESEA
Coach: Jim Atkins
Last year: 5 wins – 13 losses (9th)
IN: Tim Atkins (Barooga), Jayden Carroll (Turvey Park), Matt Dornauf (Essendon VFL)
OUT: Roy Dyson (Glenrowan)
Coach says: “Ultimately the aim is still to try and win more games than we did last year and we will worry about what happens after that. We had a pretty good season last year, we are looking to improve on that and if we do, you can start talking about other things like finals football.”
