SOUTH MORANG young gun Jade Gresham will captain Northern Knights in the 2015 TAC Cup season.
The announcement was made at the Northern Knights’ Season Launch and Guernsey Presentation Night, held at Preston City Oval on Monday.
The 17-year-old (pictured below) played 17 games for the Knights’ last season and featured in the best players on 11 occasions.
The Knights also unveiled their playing 45-man playing list for the 2015 season, which comprises 27 players from the Northern Football League.
They include: Carl Adams (West Preston-Lakeside), Sam Binion (Montmorency), Jacob Booth (Diamond Creek), Anthony Capeci (South Morang), Steven Christou (South Morang), Matthew Coen (Whittlesea), Connor Dalgleish (Montmorency), Kye Declase (Montmorency), Jacob Fahey (Montmorency), Brayden Fiorini (Greensborough), Jade Gresham (South Morang), Mitch Hill (Eltham), Bailey Jordan (Heidelberg), Bobby Lamanna (Montmorency), Darcy Macpherson (Diamond Creek), Kieran Malone (Eltham), James Marchbank (Eltham), Max Maynard (Fitzroy Stars), Liam McVeigh (West Preston-Lakeside), Matthew Morison (Mill Park), Lachlan Murphy (Diamond Creek), Sam Peet (Whittlesea), Matthew Signorello (South Morang), Clark Sloan (Whittlesea), Michael Tilmouth-Turner (West Preston-Lakeside), Khodr Waari (West Preston-Lakeside) and Luke Wachinger (Eltham).
The 45-man playing squad comprise seven 19-year-old players, 22 under-18s and 16 under-17 players.
A further two Northern Football League players were named in the leadership group, with Brayden Fiorini and Darcy Macpherson joining Luke Bunker, Michael Mattingly and Matt Perry as vice-captains.
Northern Knights coach Andrew Shakespeare gave his thoughts on the squad’s pre-season training campaign, which started last November with a four-week block of training prior to Christmas and included a training camp at Camp Wyuna, Queenscliff.
The Knights returned in mid-January for another four-week block of training before commencing practice matches, along with the TAC Cup fitness testing day that was held on the Labour Day long weekend.
Shakespeare finished his address by stressing the importance of continual improvement in all areas as the Northern Knights enter their 24th TAC Cup season.
The club was pleased to welcome back former players and recent draftees Jason Castagna, Kane Lambert, Reece McKenzie and Jayden Short – who were all selected by Richmond last year – to present the 2015 squad with their jumpers and share their experiences in the AFL environment so far.
North Melbourne midfielder Leigh Adams was also a special guest and provided an insightful interview with Shakespeare. Adams is a part-time coach at the Knights this year and will assist the club every Monday.
Northern Knights commence their 2015 TAC Cup campaign this Saturday when they take on reigning premier Oakleigh Chargers at IKON Park.
