6 DAYS TO GO | EFL Media will be previewing each club ahead of the 2019 season with the #InFocus2019 series, all thanks to Yarra Valley Water & Choose Tap.
By: Tash Gunawardana
UPPER Ferntree Gully will field a younger team than in previous seasons, but this does not faze senior playing-coach Joel Perry.
Perry has the utmost confidence that his young players will have a steady season as he heads into his second year in charge.
The Kings finished second on the ladder last season in Division 2 with 14 wins and four losses, before a 22-point loss to Lilydale in the preliminary final.
Perry enters his second season at the Kings’ helm. PHOTO: Davis Harrigan Photography
The club will field a slightly different group this year, adding key forwards Ryan Phillips (Vermont) and Shaun Lovell (Mazenod), while midfielders Aden Quirk and Jed O’Sullivan have crossed over from Emerald.
“We have also been able to secure Aden’s brothers Caleb and Kye who are both at Northern Blues, we have been able to secure them as their affiliate clubs,” Perry said.
“Kye has signed the contract with the Northern Blues and Caleb hasn’t, so we may see a little bit more (of) him than Kye, but yes they are both playing in our final practice match tomorrow (last Saturday).
“I don’t know you could see a bit of them, but it depends on how injuries go at Carlton, but both players have a lot of talent and are really young at just 18.
“They haven’t played a lot of senior footy but a lot of talent, which is very exciting.
“Hayden Boyce has come on board from Waverley Blues, Harley Burmeister from Forest Hill.
“They both just wanted to improve their footy a little bit and come up a few divisions and they have both been fantastic at training.”
The club has lost the playing services of dual premiership player and 2016 premiership captain Tim Riseley (pictured below) and multiple best and fairest winner Mike Smith who have both transferred to South Belgrave, linking up with former Kings assistant Luke Galliott who will coach the Saints this year.
Perry believes the young talent he has acquired will cover their loss.
“We will be certainly a lot younger, but I’m kind of excited because it brings a new enthusiasm across the group and some of the guys who left were kind of set in their ways and would have been harder to coach,” he said.
“So the new guys are young, keen, want to play senior footy and they train and have been really fantastic at the club since we got them on board.”
The 2019 leadership group has been finalised.
“Andrew Godfrey and Liam Gellie will be co-captains again, as they were last year,” Perry said.
“Matt Lee will be vice-captain and then rounding out that will be Daniel Reid, Ben Ward and Bryce Hards.”
The second-year playing-coach is wary of the competition restructure where the club will compete in Division 1, as he looks to educate the club’s youth.
“We have kind of had to teach some of those young guys how we play but also I have just been a little more comfortable, because having those nerves as a first year coach (on) what to do and so forth.
“Just been trying to implement how I think we should play across everyone and teaching everyone new how we play, but also reinforcing some of the things, as I have only had them for one year.
“Just trying to bring a different edge, because the competition has changed a little bit because of the restructure it’s going to be a lot harder to win games than it was last year.
“So, just kind of making them a bit more mentally tough.”
The Kings have taken a similar approach to 2018 this pre-season as Perry is set to play deep back as a key position defender.
“I think it (pre-season) has been fairly similar because we had the prelim last year so it kind of worked okay,” Perry said.
“Also having Kristian Bardsley come on board as senior assistant coach has been really fantastic and (he) has been very good around (the) midfield and at stoppages.
“For him he has helped with general ball movement.
“Hearing how he wants to play has been very beneficial for me and the boys and we will see a little bit of that in the way we play.
“So I suppose just a bit of a different mindset in terms of what (he) has had to teach me has been the only real change that has occurred.”
Perry believes that the King’s off-field structures are solid but admits 2019 is “a little bit unknown” with what to expect from his young list.
“Kristian (Bardsley), Matt Lawson, Craig Perry not related to me will be our assistant coaches,” he said.
“Brad Kelleher will be player assistant, so there will be the four of them plus myself.
“I just want to see these young guys really grow, improve and just really buy into the culture of the club and to enjoy it.
“I don’t want to see these young guys we have recruited leave next year, so want to make sure they are enjoying their footy and that they want to (be) Upper Gully players for a long time.
“So that’s really my own expectations and obviously I’d love to make the finals that was my aim last year and we were able to do that, but if we can do that than it will be fantastic.
“If not I just want to teach these young guys how we play, how I think it should be played and get them to really enjoy it because it is local footy and want to make sure they are really enjoying themselves.”
Meanwhile, Upper Gully senior women’s coach Joanne Van Mourik is excited about the upcoming season.
The women’s team competed in Division 1 last season and finished sixth on the ladder with seven wins and eight losses.
It is all going well ahead of another season from the coach’s perspective.
“We have had great numbers to training, so we are only a one team side which you are probably aware of,” Van Mourik said.
“We average about 18 to 20 odd at training each week and have a list of 27 people.
“So when girls couldn’t make one night they certainly made an effort to make it to the second night so I thought pre-season went really well.
“Our numbers are good and we have a few new ones there who played in the Lightning Cup today (last Saturday) that fitted in very nicely into the mix of our team.”
Van Mourik revealed the club lost one of its key midfielders in Amanda Fage in this weekend’s Deakin University Lightning Premiership who broke her nose and was taken away in an ambulance.
Shannon Alice Stephen will be the captain and Jennika Parker will be the vice-captain in 2019, while Bianca Firth, Kahlia Sommers and Emily Ballard also join the leadership group.
There is a quartet of players to watch in the Kings’ women’s team in Amanda Fage (when she is back from injury), Jennika Parker, Sarah Rhodes and Meg Liddell.
Van Mourik is looking forward to her team taking the next step.
“I think to start playing a real brand of footy where they are playing a team game where they are linking up along the ground like a lot of the girls have never played footy before with last year being their first year, so half of them didn’t know how to kick,” she said.
“I think now we have evolved into knowing how to play footy together and to get some team plays happening, so that’s my expectations for them and that showed today in some of the game play today (last Saturday’s Lightning Premiership).”
Upper Ferntree Gully will play away to Park Orchards in Round 1 and the women’s fixture is yet to be released.