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By: Brett Beston
Twitter: @Brett_Beston
The loss of a number of experienced players offset by the emergence of some promising young guns has the Noble Park Football Club cautiously optimistic on the eve of the new season.
The Bulls have suffered what could only be described as a mass exodus of players over the off-season, including James Gwilt, Trent Robertson, Sam Monaghan and Ziggy Alwan, just to name a few.
All up, 12 senior players are no longer at Moodemere St, but senior coach Mick Fogarty isn’t putting the cue in the rack just yet.
“It was just one of those things that as a club going forward we wanted to concentrate on some up and coming players and unfortunately with James (Gwilt) things probably didn’t go quite the way he wanted them to and subsequently we lost a lot of personnel out of that,” Fogarty said.
“It was disappointing but we understood and we move on and look forward to this year, I can’t really comment any more than that.
“There’s been a lot of rumour and innuendo but we’re a strong club on and off the field and we’ll be okay.”
Kyle Martin will captain the Bulls this season. PICTURE: Garry Sparke
Fogarty says missing finals last season, including losing four of the last five games, was a blow but believes it was indicative of the strength of the competition.
“It was disappointing the way we finished, but having said that the competition from top to seventh, those first seven positions were pretty even,” he said.
“We gave ourselves a chance if we could’ve made the five, but we just couldn’t get there.
“We had a couple of disappointing loses especially the one to North Ringwood in the second to last game.
“That was one that probably hurt us and the Norwood one in that back half. I mean Norwood was beating everyone and in really good form and I always rated them as a very good side.
“I was probably a little surprised as to where they were sitting on the ladder.
“We ran into a couple of teams in some pretty good form and of course played Vermont in the last game.
“So out of the last five the loses we had, were against sides in pretty good form, so we took a bit away from that.”
One positive has been the success of the under-19 side winning the premiership two years ago and as a result producing some exciting talent, several who have already started to make an impact at senior level.
Among them the Marson brothers Jordan and Ben, Lachlan Marolla and Mouneer Ghanem have all shown good development and look set to form the nucleus of the senior side in the coming years.
“We’ve been fortunate that our former under-19 coach Jamie Barnett who’s currently our development coach has brought a lot of those kids through and he and I have worked closely together over the last couple of years and a lot of credit must go to Jamie for developing these boys and when there’s a chance we look to give them a run in the seniors,” Fogarty said.
Lionel Benoit and Kevin Kean look ready to go to the next level after making their senior debuts last season and Fogarty has high hopes too for a couple of other young guns.
“Luke Nelson had his first season last year and we’ve got to remember he’s only 20; he’s had a terrific pre-season and was great for us last year as a small forward,” Fogarty said.
“Tom Glen is another who played his first full year with us last year, coming from the Dandenong Stingrays, he’s another one he’s been having an impact at training (and) we’re looking forward to Jack Sketcher’s contribution.”
Jack Sketcher has been announced as the Bulls’ vice-captain for 2018. PICTURE: Garry Sparke
“At times last year he probably thought about things too much instead of just playing his role – he’s immensely talented Jack, and I think his best is yet to come.
“If we had two of him we could play one at half-back and one in the midfield because his explosiveness out of the half-back area along with his run and carry is sensational.
“He’s had a terrific pre-season so we’re expecting big things from him.
“Yes we’ve lost a lot of players but we’ve introduced a lot of young kids and there’s still some good experienced players around them to help their development.”
Of the new faces, Bailey Lambert, son of former Richmond and Brisbane star Craig, will be one to watch according to Fogarty.
“He’s come down from Queensland to make the list at Richmond’s VFL team and he needed a home club,” Fogarty said.
“I played with his dad years ago at under-19 level and Bailey’s had a connection with a few of the boys at Noble Park so we we’re lucky enough to secure his services when he’s not required by Richmond and we’re rapt to have him on-board.
“He’s a ripper; he’s played in our first two practice games as an on-baller (and) he’s only 19 and as well as being a terrific kid, he’s a great footballer.”
Midfielder Will Collis is another to have made the Bulls his home club following in the footsteps of brother Dylan who is a former Bull.
“Will is another guy that we are fortunate to have as a home club and we might see a bit of him in the first couple of rounds as he’s coming back from injury so we’re lucky to have secured him,” Fogarty said.
“Kieren Byers is a ruckman and another one who’s plied his trade at Casey and we’ll develop him, so we’ll see a bit of Kieren, he’s actually been going pretty well for Casey in some of their practice games, but at that level he’s still a bit raw.
“We’re rapt that he’s with us as his home club and he’ll obviously replace Vergim Faik and we look forward to his contribution.”
Ali Zijai, another to come out of the 2016 under-19 premiership side, will be joined this season by brother Yilber after a stint at Frankston, along with another former Casey man in Jake Gains whose versatility in both defence and in the ruck will be a huge plus.
Fogarty also speaks highly of defender Jacob Duscher who he describes as being a bit in the in the mould of former Bulls star Stewart Kemperman, who retired in 2016.
“He’s a guy who’s played a bit of VFL footy at Frankston and the Northern Bullants (now the Northern Blues),” Fogarty said.
“Brenton Hillard, who has been on Casey’s list, has gone across to Frankston, but again we will be his home club, along with Jake Aarts who’s on Richmond’s list and Jarrod Smith who is one of the young guns playing at the Stingrays at the moment as an over top- age player. So we’ll see a bit of them as well.”
Another plus is the return of Piva Wright from Richmond’s VFL squad, a timely boost for the forward line with the departure of the club’s two leading goal kickers from last season Tim Harper (University Blacks in the VAFA) and Ziggy Alwan (Rowville).
“We’ve got Piva back this season, Hudson Thomas was our third or fourth tall forward last year that now becomes number one or two, and we expect that he’s going to contribute on the scoreboard along with Piva and our other small forwards, and even some of our midfielders,” Fogarty said.
“Kyle Martin can go forward that’s no secret, so we believe we have options available to kick goals.”
Fogarty will also welcome some new faces in the coaches’ box to help him mould the young group.
“I’ve got three new assistants this season, Andrew Sharp who used to play at our club, Justin Hamilton looking after defence and Daniel Mislicki will be doing the forwards, plus Jamie Barnett our development coach who’s been with me for a few years now,” he said.
Like most clubs the Bulls have had a solid pre-season including practice games against Berwick and Norwood and are itching to start the season proper, with a slightly different focus from last year.
“We’ll be a bit more defensive this year, with all the players we’ve lost we’ve certainly had to change the way we go about things, and we’ve tinkered with a few other things too,” Fogarty said.
And they’ll need to be ready with a tough start in the opening rounds, including the defending premiers, but Fogarty is taking it all in his stride.
“I don’t think there are any easy games; the competition has really evened itself up as we saw last year, South Croydon proved that.
“It’s just important that we compete, which we will and where that takes us we’ll wait and see.
“We just want to consolidate and get games into our youth; the scoreboard will look after itself.
“We haven’t got any great expectations in terms of finals; it’s a completely new group.
“It’s like walking into a new club again with new assistants and new players.”
The Bulls open their season on April 7 against 2017 premiers South Croydon at Cheong Park.
