A look at all the key list changes ahead of the 2018 Meadows Greyhounds Division 1 season, which commences this weekend.
Northcote Park and Bundoora kick-off the season on Friday night, when they meet at Bill Lawry Oval in a rematch of the 2017 preliminary final.
The Round 1 action continues on Saturday, with another four massive games scheduled.
The fixture for the opening round is:
Northcote Park v Bundoora (Friday 7:10pm)
Greensborough v Montmorency
Hurstbridge v West Preston-Lakeside
North Heidelberg v Macleod
Whittlesea v Heidelberg
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
Last year: 15 wins – 7 losses (Premier)
IN: Richard Bamblett (Fitzroy Stars), Jai Burns (Fitzroy Stars), Beau Delcus (Lalor), Kaine Digney (Lalor), Eamon Gilbert (Avondale Heights), Joel Grace (South Morang), Peter Hood (Fitzroy Stars), Jarrod King (Lalor), Kain Proctor (Fitzroy Stars), Anthony Soriano (Templestowe), Andrew Sturgess (Seymour)
OUT: Kris Bardon (retired), Matthew Ferraro (Thomastown), Salvatore Mamone (Thomastown), Isaac Muller (North Albury), Mark Pavlovski (Hurstbridge), Blake Poyser (Avondale Heights), Ben Shelton (retired)
Coach says: “After you do play in a premiership, the excitement you get from that and the feeling you share with the rest of the guys you play with and the club, you just want more of it. It’s such a good feeling and the club is on such a high. You want to get the people involved to that position again.”
GREENSBOROUGH
Coach: Robert Hyde
Last year: 12 wins – 8 losses (4th)
IN: Scott Clark (Tyrendarra), Zak McCubbin (Mitcham), William Murphy (Old Ivanhoe)
OUT: Rhys Boyden (Panton Hill), Corey Cogan (Picola United), John Desmond, Ricky Mullins, John Pritchard (Panton Hill)
Coach says: “We’ve really been trying to bolster our midfield and forward line. We’re concentrating on delivery into our front half and are working on new systems and structures in both of those areas to try and better our delivery. Our backline is certainly up there with any available in the competition.”
HEIDELBERG
Coach: Frank Raso (new)
Last year: 8 wins – 10 losses (6th)
IN: Mason Blakey (Eltham), Christian Buykx-Smith (Traralgon), Fletcher Carroll (Albury), Deven Costigan (Sunshine), Jesse Cucinotta (Shepparton United), Patrik Della Rocca (Banyule), Brydan Hodgson (Pascoe Vale), Eamonn McCuskey (Lake Wendouree), Josh Minogue (North Albury), Ashley Moloney (Fitzroy), Jacob Page (Albury), Harrison Payne (Corowa Rutherglen), Charlie Robinson (Ivanhoe), Chris Ryan (Tatura), Andrew Tashevski-Beckwith (Avondale Heights), Jake Thomas (North Shore), Trent Williamson (Wodonga)
OUT: Paul Bower (Deer Park), Daniel Cookson (Old Ivanhoe), Charles Gaylard (Albury), Shaun Huy (Corowa Rutherglen), Ben Kerton (Banyule), Jake Truefeldt (Banyule)
Coach says: “We’ve definitely lost a lot of experience and leadership. On the short term we feel like it’ll hurt, but long term – I’m talking two or three years – I feel like we’ve brought in the right kids. We’ve only gone for players that are in their early development. We feel like we’ve recruited the best TAC Cup kids that didn’t get drafted. We want Heidelberg, on top of our under-17s and under-19s coming through, to be their home. Obviously we’re still Heidelberg – we want to win games, we want to win premierships – but that’s the model in the club.”
HURSTBRIDGE
Coach: Trevor Little
Last year: 5 wins – 13 losses (8th)
IN: Michael Berry (Avenel), Chris Burton (Avenel), Cameron Cloke (Jacana), Travis Cloke (Western Bulldogs), Ryan Jackson (Pascoe Vale), Daniel Keenan (Montmorency), Kyle Keenan (Lower Plenty), Mark Pavlovski (Bundoora), Michael Robertson (Epping), Jamie Smith (Eltham)
OUT: Micheal Farrelly (Roxburgh Park), Daniel Francis (Hurstbridge), Mitchell Thompson (Laurimar)
Coach says: “They’re really strong leaders around the club and have really helped out our younger guys with the experience and level of footy they’ve played elsewhere. It’s actually quite hard to sort of know how it’s going to work out, but Cameron has been nothing short of fantastic. He’s obviously certainly getting on – he’s no sprig chicken anymore – but that’s where he’s going to add so much value to the group. Travis speaks for himself. He’s been very vocal on the track and really supportive. And then Bomber (Daniel Keenan) – when you coach against these guys you admire them from afar and you don’t realise how hard they work. He does not miss a beat.”
MACLEOD
Coach: Garry Ramsay
Last year: 16 wins – 4 losses (Runner-up)
IN: Billy Barden (Lower Plenty), Ben Lennon (Richmond), Fraser Pope (Montrose), Rourke Turner (Sandhurst)
OUT: Cathal Corr (retired), Reece Geary (retired), Matthew Clark (Keilor)
Coach says: “I don’t think we’ve had a franchise player (recruit) in my time and Ben could probably be considered a franchise player. It’s nice to have a big name that in the big moments, we can have someone that really stands up. It’s a great boost, we always try to hang our hats on promoting our own and to get an ex-AFL footballer, and to also be an ex-Macleod junior, is fantastic.”
MONTMORENCY
Coach: Ben Haynes
Last year: 6 wins – 12 losses (7th)
IN: Luke Bunker (Heidelberg), Danko Bzenic (West Coburg), James Gaul (Marcellin), Kane Goodwin (Garfield), Ben Fennell (injured), Ben Kennedy (Melbourne), Tyrone Leonardis (Sydney), Peter McEvoy (St Pauls), Jake Potter (South Morang), Josh Robertson (Heathmont), Jordan Steele (South Morang), Kyan Watson (Diamond Creek), Matthew White (Port Adelaide)
OUT: Daniel Keenan (Hurstbridge), Nick Snowdon (Euroa), Corey Yeo (Perth)
Coach says: “We have got a pretty exciting list. Our results probably didn’t show it last year but we had a lot of guys that didn’t play full years. (Kennedy’s) 23 and has 40 games under his belt at league level. There’s just not many of those guys about that are playing suburban footy He’s a real hard-nosed competitor that just loves to compete and he’s good at the coalface.”
NORTHCOTE PARK
Coach: Matt McLennan
Last year: 13 wins – 8 losses (3rd)
IN: Lachlan Schultz (Moama), Ethan Penrith (West Preston-Lakeside), James Svarc (Corowa Rutherglen), Steve Thomson (Lancaster),
OUT: Jayden Brennan (Broadbeach), Jordan Collopy (Vermont), Daniel Costanzo (West Preston-Lakeside), Marty Hore (Echuca), Jacob Mitchell (Banyule), Michael O’Connell (retired), Patrick O’Connell (retired), Brody Ricardi (Bright)
General manager says: “We are still aiming for a flag. You have got to start again, finish top-three again and give yourselves every chance of making the last day in September. Macleod were the odds-on favourite but Bundoora, through their really good players and having the No. 1 ruckman, got over the line.”
NORTH HEIDELBERG
Coach: Jimmy House (new)
Last year: 18 wins – 1 draw – 1 loss (Division 2 Premier)
IN: Jhye Baddeley-Kelly (Lalor), Brandon Bailey (Yallourn Yallourn), Isaac Conway (Werribee Districts), Bradley Fisk (Elliston), Sean Gregory (West Coburg), Daniel Haynes (Sandgate), Billy Hogan (West Preston-Lakeside), Hayden Hunt (Eltham), Liam Hunt (Eltham), Ryan McGie (Marong), Robin Nahas (Templestowe), Carl Peterson (St Kilda City), Eli Templeton (West Coburg)
OUT: Marc Lonergan (East Malvern), Brad Kairouz (Portarlington), Matthew Mahony (Old Paradians), Pasquale Saccuzzo (Portarlington)
Coach says: “We wanted to add value to our list. Going up a division, we knew it was going to be a jump up for us, so we wanted to top up an already exciting list. We feel the players we have brought in will add to the value of our footy club, first and foremost, but also to our side. Whether they be our VFL boys or the boys we have recruited from other local clubs, we feel that they fit into the culture of our club and the direction we want to head in. Secondly, they are handy players. We are pretty happy with what we have done in the off-season.”
WEST PRESTON-LAKESIDE
Coach: Rob Maiorana
Last year: 11 wins – 8 losses (5th)
IN: Matthew Belbasis (Keilor), Daniel Costanzo (Northcote Park), Sam Glover (Kew), Matthew Harman (Marcellin), Mark Kovacevic (Greenvale), Brynn O’Connor (La Trobe University), Nicholas Robortella (Maribyrnong Park), Joshua Sims (Coburg Districts), Ozgur Uysal (Greenvale), Tom Wilson (East Ringwood)
OUT: Michael Batey (retired), Shaun Gannon (Echuca), Billy Hogan (North Heidelberg), Luke McKenna (Echuca), Matthew Stokes (Lara), Andrew Walker (Echuca)
Coach says: “There’s a good nucleus of young players we hope can come through the ranks and play footy together for quite a long time at West Preston. As always you have got to build that buffer to cover injuries or blokes not there. Building depth has been important and I think that will keep everyone on their toes on our list.”
WHITTLESEA
Coach: Jim Atkins
Last year: 5 wins – 13 losses (9th)
IN: Mitchell Andrews (South Morang), Jacob Bateman (Laurimar), Xavier Dimasi (Seymour), Chris McCabe (Panton Hill), Jeremy Page (Craigieburn), Vincent Nativo (Mill Park)
OUT: Tim Atkins (St Arnaud), Matt Dornauf (Echuca), Sam Peet (Watsonia), Dale Saddington (retired), Justin Sherman (retired), Clark Sloan (Watsonia)
Club says: “Xavier Dimasi will definitely have a lot of impact. For a young bloke he’s had so much experience. He’s a genuine leader and we are looking forward to what he can bring. Mitch Andrews comes off, I reckon, a really, really good year in the TAC Cup. He comes in nearly ready to go I would say. He’s very classy, with a lot of polish. McCabe’s stiff not to have played a few more senior games at Northern Blues. He’s been a pretty good standout in the Development League and once again fits our age bracket really well. He comes with a bit of experience and is a very good age for us.”
