The Northern Knights have finalised their TAC Cup squad for 2018, with Montmorency’s Braedyn Gillard named club captain.
The 48-man squad includes 26 players registered with Northern Football Netball League clubs. The squad comprises four 19-year-olds, 22 top-age players and 22 bottom-agers.
Northern Knights’ Talent Manager Rhy Gieschen says narrowing down the list to 48 players was an extremely tough decision.
“We had a good mix of experienced TAC Cup players who have experience at the level, including Braedyn Gillard, Joel Naylor, Mark Baker, Tom McKenzie and Brody Bell,” Gieschen said.
“We have some bottom-age players who have really developed over the last 12 months and particularly this pre-season period.
“We expect to compete strongly in every game we play, respect the opposition and to continue to learn and develop from every week we have in the TAC Cup competition.”
Building on the foundation that former Northern Knights skipper and new St Kilda defender Nick Coffield set last season, Gillard began his captain acceptance speech by listing the values the club stands by.
“Brotherhood, purpose, belief and persistence. The four key values we decided on as a team,” Gillard said.
“These are the values that I believe will allow us to grow as a club and take another stride in the positive direction that we started last year.
“I feel these values are crucial to our success and development this year.“We’ve made some big steps in building the culture that we want to build. It started off with our camp earlier this year.
“The sharing of personal stories which was an amazing experience for our club that brought us all together as a team, and helped build the brotherhood that is so important to the culture we are trying to develop.”
Gillard will be joined by a large leadership group, including Tom McKenzie, Brody Bell, Joel Naylor, Mark Baker, Ryan Sturgess and Ryan Gardner.
The Knights will begin their TAC Cup season with a clash against the Sandringham Dragons at Frankston Oval on Saturday.
Below is the Northern Knights’ TAC Cup squad for the 2018 season:
Kye Agosta (Diamond Creek), Mark Baker (Whitefriars/Old Collegians), Nicholas Barro (Diamond Creek), Xavier Bateman (Banyule/Marcellin), Brody Bell (South Morang), Ryan Bowkett (St Mary’s), Jack Boyd (Warrandyte/Xavier), Kobe Brandt (Macleod), Sunny Brazier (Fitzroy), Adam Carafa (Banyule/Marcellin), Aaron Castagna (Warrandyte/Marcellin), Josh D’Intinosante (South Morang), Jackson Davies (St Mary’s), Patrik Della Rocca (Heidelbergg), Joe Furphy (Fitzroy), Ryan Gardner (Montmorency), Braedyn Gillard (Montmorency), Harrison Grace (Fitzroy), Thomas Hallebone (Preston Bullants), Jack Hart (Fitzroy), Jack House (Laurimar), Nathan Howard (Greensborough/Ivanhoe Grammar), Zachary Hudson (St Mary’s), Nicholas Kitchell (Diamond Creek), James Lucente (Macleod), Nicholas Mayne (Banyule), Justin McInerney (Banyule /Marcellin), Tom McKenzie (Fitzroy/Ivanhoe), Jye Murphy (St Mary’s), Xavier Naish (Ivanhoe/Ivanhoe Grammar), Kareem Nasser (Noble Park), Joel Naylor (Whittlesea), Benjamin Nikolovski (Ivanhoe/Ivanhoe Grammar), Lucas Perry (Northcote Park/Marcellin), Sam Philp (St Mary’s), Lachlan Potter (South Morang), Joel Randall (St Mary’s), Izak Rossi (Ivanhoe/Carey Grammar), Ryan Sanelli (Greensborough), Charlie Simonsen (Ivanhoe/ Ivanhoe Grammar), Owen Sloan (Whittlesea/Assumption College), Ryan Sturgess (St Mary’s), Evan Tsitsis (Macleod), Stefan Uzelac (Montmorency), Oscar White (Old Carey/Carey Grammar), Mitch Wild (Diamond Creek), Cameron Wild (Diamond Creek), Kye Yodgee (Banyule/Marcellin).
