BFNL 2023 SEASON PREVIEW: South Bendigo

SEASON 2023 ushers in a new era for South Bendigo as the Bloods officially make the transition full-time to their new home Harry Trott Oval. And they do it off the back of a season last year in which they made tremendous inroads on the field, not only playing in their first BFNL finals since 2012, but also getting through to the second week after beating Sandhurst by 49 points in the elimination final. "We need to continue to get development out of our guys like Sam Maher, Wil McCaig, Brock Harvey, Will Keck and Braydan Torpey, who are coming to the point in their careers where they are really starting to hit their straps being the age they are," South Bendigo coach Nathan Horbury said. "And the addition of a quality ruckman should really help our midfield group, which we think is really strong with Cooper Leon, Brody Haddow, Isaiah Miller, Sam Griffiths and myself, so we really need to capitalise on that." That new ruckman for the Bloods is Macgregor Cameron, who stands at 202cm and has previously been on the VFL lists of Coburg and Sandringham and comes to the Bloods from the Monash Blues. Midfielder Brody Haddow is a former Bloods' player returning to South Bendigo - a club where he is a dual best and fairest winner in 2018 and 2019. Haddow rejoins the Bloods from Donald and with him comes two other players from the Royals in Sam Griffiths and Cody Brooks. Haddow isn't the only past South Bendigo player back at the club, with gun forward Steven Stroobants returning to the Bloods from Rochester. Stroobants last played at the Bloods in 2012 and since then has coached Rochester, captained the Bendigo Gold in the VFL and been on North Melbourne's VFL list as well as Coburg's. The return of Stroobants helps the Bloods cover the loss of class forward Kaiden Antonowicz, who kicked 44 goals last year, to White Hills, with Tom Brereton and Jayden Sheean also joining him at the Demons. Key midfielders Michael Herlihy and Liam Byrne have also departed the Bloods. One of the breakout stars of the BFNL last year was forward Brock Harvey, who booted 64 goals, with last year's Michelsen Medal runner-up Horbury expecting Harvey's game to continue to elevate alongside Stroobants. "It's really exciting to have Brock and Stroobs down in the forward line together," Horbury said. "It's good to have a couple of players like that who can not only impact inside 50, but also roll up through the midfield as well. We played Stroobs through the mids in our practice match against Redan and he's just so strong over the footy and his centre clearance work was great. "And Brock was fantastic for us last year. Probably the next step for him is playing a few more minutes through the middle, but when you've got such a weapon down forward with what he did last year... the big thing with Brock is not only did he kick a lot of goals, but his forward line pressure was huge and that's where a lot of his goals came from. I think he's got another level in him." DISPOSALS Nathan Horbury 500 Michael Herlihy 491 Isaiah Miller 357 Cooper Leon 342 Zac Hare 320 Kaiden Antonowicz 309 Liam Bryne 307 Brayden Torpey 301 Will Keck 253 Brock Harvey 247 MARKS Michael Herlihy 133 Nathan Horbury 120 Cooper Leon 104 Kaiden Antonowicz 100 Isaiah Miller 95 Brayden Torpey 89 Andrew Vanheumen 86 Brock Harvey 86 Zac Hare 83 Samuel Langley 80 CLEARANCES Michael Herlihy 81 Nathan Horbury 75 Liam Bryne 72 Cooper Leon 50 Kaiden Antonowicz 44 Isaiah Miller 32 Brock Harvey 27 Will Keck 24 Alexander Smith 23 Samuel Maher 23 TACKLES Michael Herlihy 93 Liam Bryne 89 Nathan Horbury 77 Brock Harvey 64 Samuel Maher 58 Isaiah Miller 54 Kaiden Antonowicz 51 Cooper Leon 50 Andrew Vanheumen 50 Cameron Taggert 50 GOALS Brock Harvey 64 Kaiden Antonowicz 44 Will Keck 22 Michael Herlihy 21 Alexander Smith 16 Cooper Leon 12 Oscar White 10 Will Allen 8 Nathan Horbury 6 Jesse Sheahan 6 Last year: Fifth (11-7-1) Coach: Jannelle Hobbs. 2022 best and fairest: Chloe Langley. Promoted: Maggie Burke, Carissa Brook, Claudia Griffiths. Player losses: Keiarah Brooks, Emily Cossar, Ash Gilmore, Ella Flavell, Amy Morrissey, Sarah Nash. Last A-grade premiership: Never won an A-grade flag. SOUTH Bendigo will look to some of its exciting young talent to help fulfill its aim of a rise up the BFNL ladder. The Bloods have managed a top-five finish in the past three seasons, including the COVID-shortened 2021 season, but have been unable to find a way past Sandhurst, Kangaroo Flat and Gisborne into top-three territory. It's those three teams again, plus a rejuvenated Castlemaine, that again look to stand in their way of a top-three position. The Bloods will be a much younger unit than the one which was beaten by Castlemaine in last year's elimination final. Midcourter Keiarah Brooks has joined former Bloods defender Chloe Adams at Kerang, where she has taken up a coaching role, while midcourter Emily Cossar will line-up for Echuca United following a move north for work. The Bloods have also lost experienced defender Amy Morrissey to White Hills and quality youngster Ella Flavell to rival BFNL club Strathfieldsaye, while goal shooter Ash Gilmore is not playing in 2023. That has opened up plenty of vacancies, which Hobbs intends to fill with promising young homegrown talent. Young defender Maggie Burke will make the step up following a stellar season in A-reserve in 2022, as will skilful midcourter Carissa Brook. One of last season's recruits, Claudia Griffiths, who won the North Central league A-grade medal with Donald as a 17-year-old in 2021, will also get her chance in A-grade. Griffiths and Brook will add extra speed to an already slick Bloods midcourt led by BFNL representative Chloe Gray. South Bendigo will still boast plenty of strength at both ends of the court, with Steph Goode and Alicia McGlashan again anchoring the defence and star young goal shooter Chloe Langley and Olivia Mason partners in the goal circle. Hobbs said Langley - the Bloods' reigning best and fairest - was set for another big season. "She is looking super-fit and training well alongside Liv (Mason)," she said. "I am really happy with our goaling combination. I don't think it could be much stronger. "Chloe Gray will be our spare goaler this year. She has been goaling (for Boroondara Express) down in the VNL this year, so we'll work her into goals as well as the midcourt. "She gives us a really different look in goals and gives us that really speedy goaler, who is super-accurate as well. "We'll only go with eight (players) this season and have our strong A-reserve covering the gaps. "I really wanted to use those young 17s girls coming through the club and Maggie and Carissa have been at South for a long time, so they deserve to have a crack. And young Claudia fits the bill as well." Look for Langley, who is again playing VNL with City West Falcons and only turns 21 this week, to spend more time at goal attack as well. Unlike previous pre-seasons under Hobbs when they played a bunch of practice matches, the Bloods have had just the two leading into their opening round encounter against Eaglehawk. "We could probably have done with one more match, but we just ran out of time match-play-wise," she said. "We had a good hit-out against Redan over there, albeit we didn't have our full team. "We haven't actually had our full team for a practice match, but they are training really well and we've spent a lot more time working on our court structure at training." The Bloods second practice match comprised a solid hit-out against reigning Loddon Valley league premiers Maiden Gully YCW. Cause for plenty of excitement is the long-awaited full-time move to Harry Trott Oval. ROUND 1 - April 15 v Eaglehawk (h) ROUND 2 - April 22 v Kangaroo Flat (a) ROUND 3 - April 29 v Kyneton (h) ROUND 4 - May 6 v Golden Square (a) ROUND 5 - May 13 v Sandhurst (h) ROUND 6 - May 27 v Strathfieldsaye (h) ROUND 7 - June 3 v Maryborough (a) ROUND 8 - June 10 v Gisborne (h) ROUND 9 - June 17 v Castlemaine (a) ROUND 10 - June 24 v Eaglehawk (a) ROUND 11 - July 8 v Kangaroo Flat (h) ROUND 12 - July 15 v Kyneton (a) ROUND 13 - July 22 v Golden Square (h) ROUND 14 - July 29 v Sandhurst (a) ROUND 15 - August 5 v Strathfieldsaye (a) ROUND 16 - August 12 v Maryborough (h) ROUND 17 - August 19 v Gisborne (a) ROUND 18 - August 26 v Castlemaine (h) Elmore Colbinabbin Heathcote Huntly Leitchville-Gunbower Lockington-Bamawm United Mount Pleasant North Bendigo White Hills Bears Lagoon-Serpentine Bridgewater Calivil United Inglewood Maiden Gully YCW Marong Mitiamo Newbridge Pyramid Hill Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. 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