Catch up on all the key list changes ahead of the 2018 A Plus Labour Solutions Division 2 season.
The second division action began on Good Friday, where Eltham proved too good for Diamond Creek in front of a huge crowd at Eltham Central Park.
The Round 1 action continues on Saturday April 14. The opening round matches are:
Banyule v Watsonia
Diamond Creek v Fitzroy Stars
Eltham v Epping
Lower Plenty v Thomastown
Continue below to see all the key ins and outs from each A Plus Labour Solutions Division 2 team over the off-season.
BANYULE
Coach: Pete Davey
Last year: 16 wins – 2 losses (Division 3 premier)
IN: Riley Hogarth (Morwell), Mannon Johnston (Morwell), Ben Kerton (Heidelberg), Daniel Meroli (Leitchville Gunbower), Jacob Mitchell (Northcote Park), Nick Smith (Cottesloe), Brent Stanton (Essendon), Jake Truefeldt (Heidelberg),
OUT: Nathan Elsworthy (Mackay), Lachlan James (Kew), Bailey Jordan (Glenelg), Max Post (Ivanhoe)
Coach says: “We think just being competitive, regardless of who we’re playing against, is probably going to make our transition into this division a lot easier. If you looked at last year, Division 2 was probably the most uneven of the three divisions which is probably not going to be the case this season. Realistically, everyone’s going to say that they’re a chance of finishing in the top-four and that’s what everyone’s looking for. Ideally, we’re no different to that.”
DIAMOND CREEK
Coach: Craig Hayes
Last year: 15 wins – 6 losses (runner-up)
IN: Nicholas Barro (St Mary’s), Joe Langford (Macleod), Michael McKenzie (Avenel), Stephen Schmidt (Greensborough), Cameron Wild (South Morang), Mitch Wild (South Morang)
OUT: Ryan Burrell (retired), Nicholas Parks (Panton Hill), Kyan Watson (Montmorency)
Round 1 Result: Diamond Creek 9.8 (62) def by Eltham 17.19 (121)
Coach says: “It was a disappointing result last week against Eltham. I thought the boys very much held their own in the first three quarters, but in the end, Eltham were too good. We now know what the benchmark is and will work very hard to bridge that gap.”
ELTHAM
Coach: Paul King
Last year: 5 wins – 13 losses (relegated from Division 1)
IN: Tim Currie (Williamstown), Brent Macaffer (Kilcunda Bass), Brendan O’Sullivan (Balwyn)
OUT: Mason Blakey (Heidelberg), Hayden Hunt (North Heidelberg), Jamie Smith (Hurstbridge), Michael Tinkler (Avenel)
Round 1 Result: Eltham 17.19 (121) def Diamond Creek 9.8 (62)
Coach says: I’ll play (Macaffer) through the middle and then played him deep forward at some stages. If you have got players like Brent and Stilly (Michael Still) coming out of the square together, we hope to stretch opponents’ defences.”
EPPING
Coach: Greg Whitcroft
Last year: 12 wins – 6 losses (promoted from Division 3)
IN: Joel Carter (Mernda), Sage Dicello (West Coburg), Michael Howden (Eltham Collegians), Reed Jepson (Preston Bullants), Jason Kelly (Lalor), Damon Marcon (Preston Bullants), Brad Taylor (Rosebale), Harry Vincent (Lalor)
OUT: Joel Dunmore (Rushworth), Aaryn Gibson (Fitzroy Stars), Daniel Moore (Port Douglas), Michael Robertson (Hurstbridge), Thomas Sullivan (Casterton Sandford), Glen Widdicombe (Therry Penola), Aaron Willitts (Bacchus Marsh), Shane Wood (retired)
Coach says: “It’s going to be a massive learning curve for them but you don’t learn much if you are pulverising poor sides. You probably learn more if you are fighting your way through it.”
FITZROY STARS
Coach: Jason Mifsud
Last year: 11 wins – 1 draw – 7 losses (4th)
IN: Brodie Cook (Rumbalara), Aaryn Gibson (Epping), Cameron Hall (Colbinabbin), Hayden Heta (Old Ivanhoe Grammarians), Patrick Kelly-Briggs (Wentworth), Dion Patten (Rumbalara), Benny Stallion (Epping), Steven Stallion (Bayswater)
OUT: Richard Bamblett (Bundoora), Jai Burns (Bundoora), Clinton Edwards (Tallygaroopna), Thomas Higgins (Rumbalara), Peter Hood (Bundoora), Kain Proctor (Bundoora), Robert Smith (South), Vaasili Tuifao (Rumbalara), Josh Wanganeen (Rumbalara),
Coach says: “Really our challenge is not to make the finals as an aspiration but the evidence would tell the competition that you need to finish in the top two. With our internal development plus the inclusion of that sort of mature-type player, we think we will be in the mix again as we always are.”
LOWER PLENTY
Coach: Ben Turner (new)
Last year: 12 wins – 8 losses (3rd)
IN: Thomas Blake (Panton Hill), Sean Dean (Safety Bay), Alden Meale (returned), Jesse Smith (returned)
OUT: Tim Duckworth (Panton Hill), Cameron Elmore (injured), Mark Favrin (Heidelberg), Ben Gill (Dookie)
Coach says: “Winning an under-19s premiership last year and giving these players some opportunities is kind of at the forefront of our minds. With the potential for younger players coming in, it’s about giving them some opportunities and seeing where that takes us.”
THOMASTOWN
Coach: Ben Chapman
Last year: 9 wins – 9 losses (5th)
IN: Tom Bonson (Lalor), Anthony Calafiore (South Morang), Anthony Capeci (South Morang), Rodney Carruthers (Glenroy), Dylan Chapman (Officer), Matthew Ferraro (Bundoora), Daniel Francis (Hurstbridge), Jacob Goodrick (Warnbro Swans), Nicholas Klooster (South Morang), Joshua Lohse Tonna (South Morang), Salvatore Mamone (Bundoora), Michael Spooner (St Albans), Lane Tucker (Jacana), Brandon Walters (Heidelberg West)
OUT: Ferras Merhi (Roxburgh Park), Koe Ngawati (Avondale Heights)
Coach says: “We identified late last year that we needed to find some forwards that would help take the pressure off Jacob. Our moves will probably enable our forward structure to not be one-dimensional, which we probably were last year, and these guys will make us a bit more unpredictable to the opposition and hard to match up on at times.”
WATSONIA
Coach: Jarrad Carey (new)
Last year: 6 wins – 12 losses (6th)
IN: Madison Bell (South Morang), Jeremy Bolden (Sunshine), Peter Davine (Uni Blues), Matthew Gibbs (Dunolly), Billy Hawkes (Dunolly), Rick Kimberley (Kilmore), Riley Lenehan (Laharum), Benjamin McKenzie (Mt Eliza), Sam Peet (Whittlesea), Kieran Sheehan (Northern Saints), Clark Sloan (Whittlesea), Jake Stavrevski (Mernda), Nathan Tassell (South Morang), Daniel Watson (South Morang)
OUT: Jarryd Allan, Ben Anderson (Greenvale), Jeremy Bennett (retired), Andrew Kidd, John Perichon (Reservoir)
Coach says: “We want to be competitive. We want to be able to play four quarters every week. I don’t want to put targets on the amount of games we want to win, but we will go into every game thinking we can be very competitive and if that’s the case then there’s no reason to think why we can’t make finals.”
