By Callum Ludwig
Warburton-Millgrove Football Netball Club are gearing up for a strong season in 2023, with a young list of footballers and a netball squad keen to repeat their heroics of last season.
In 2022, the Burras’ Reserves Footballers and all five netball sides took home the Premiership in Division Two, while the exciting U18 Boys team also brought home a flag.
Senior Football Coach James Iacono said they are prepared well for the season ahead with the majority of the senior core having a great preseason.
“In terms of aspirations, all we are looking to do is improve on the style of football that we played last season. Being such a young group it’s important rather than set lofty goals to more focus on improving with how we play,” he said.
“With game plans and game style, we will concentrate on our strengths and build on the ball movement that we started to develop last year. With round 1 around the corner, I am excited to see the development and improvement in our group and how it transfers from the training track onto the field.”
The footballers have three new recruits: Key Defender Ben Pretty from Hadfield, Onballer
Tom Barr from Drouin and Toby Mitchell and Lachlan Marr from Fish Creek.
Iacono said he is tipping a number of players to have breakthrough seasons.
“Young players who have had great pre-seasons and are sure to improve and make a mark are Tyson Henry, Bailey Humphrey and Blake Muir and other players I am tipping to have a great season are Harry Rothwell, Pat Huynh and Aiden Westlake,” he said.
“Unfortunately we lost our Vice Captain Jack Lee to a pre-season ACL and our key departures are Mitch Bonuda, Marcus Hottes and Matt Wright. They were very good and experienced players for our young group, but the positive for us is that a young player has the opportunity to grab their position and to be fast-tracked.”
The footballer’s practice matches before the season starts are against Kilsyth and West Brunswick.
Head Netball Coach Karly Wappett said there has been a really good turnout at preseason training and a lot of girls have been training hard.
“Coming off the back of five premierships, they probably want to do the same thing again and back that up. I guess whether they can do that is to be confirmed, but I think that they’re definitely in an excellent position,” she said.
“There’s been a little bit of movement some of the older, more experienced players have left or retired in the lower grades and we’ve lost some A Graders as well but it’s made space for the younger girls to come through and they’re keen to do that.”
The 2022 season was the first time Warburton-Millgrove had eight of their football and netball teams in finals, with all six who made it to the Grand Final securing the premiership.
Wappett said they used their practice matches as an opportunity to mix the grades and play more experienced players with the less experienced players.
“We’ve done really well in our practice matches, the mixing of players didn’t phase us against Norwood who we played twice,” she said.
“We don’t have any niggles or anything that’s getting in our way at the moment, so hopefully it stays the same for the next four weeks until the season starts.”
