BFNL 2023 season preview: Kangaroo Flat

NEW Kangaroo Flat coach Nathan Johns has targeted experienced recruits heading into his first season at the helm of the BFNL club. Johns has taken over as Roos' coach from James Flaherty at a club that over the past five seasons has finished no higher than eighth. Johns will be a non-playing coach for the Roos and has brought with him to Dower Park eight recruits who have an average age of 28. As well as being experienced, a common trait among the majority of the Roos' new players is height. "Without knowing the opposition yet, I would say that we've gone from not having much height at all to being the tallest side in the competition," Johns said. "With that height we do have a lot of speed in the side and some exciting youth and we'll be a team that plays on instinct. "Bringing in these new big boys with their experience will be really important in terms of keeping the ship steady when the waters get a bit rough. "With our recruits all being in that age between 26 and 32, it changes the dynamic of what Kangaroo Flat now looks like in terms of our age profile." New to the Roos are Dean Waterstone, Luke Foreman, Angus Grant, Zac Rouse, Jordan Rose, Harry Whitty, Alex Woltering and Gach Chuol. Zac and Jordan Rouse are six-foot-three identical twins who were previously invited to the 2015 AFL State Draft Combine when playing with the Dandenong Stingrays and have senior experience with the Wodonga Raiders in the Ovens and Murray league and Mt Eliza in the Mornington Peninsula league. The Rouse twins, aged 27, will both play in defence for the Roos. "They are both really athletic for their size and are going to be walls for us back in defence, which will free up guys like Ryan O'Keefe and Nick Keogh to give us a bit of drive," Johns said. "Our back six really tightens up with those guys added to it." The Roos have needed to secure a new No.1 ruckman following the departures of former skipper and stalwart Nick Lang to Kerang and Max Johnson to LBU. Filling that ruck role will be 28-year-old Chuol from Upwey Tecoma. "Gach is an athletic 205cm ruckman and I'd hate to have to try to outrun him. He has tremendous aerobic capability and a really good leap with a never-say-die attitude," Johns said. Watersone is a 28-year-old tall from Berwick Springs. "He's six-foot-five who can play through the ruck and is a great competitor. His ability to get around the ground is second-to-none and he will give us some real grunt and will be a really good back-up for Gach," Johns said. "But he can also play as a back-up key forward or he can also pinch hit down back, so he has great versatility." Foreman, 32, will play forward and is described by Johns as a player with "genuine X-factor ability". "I think he will cause some real headaches for opposition; he's a fantastic goalkicker and just a great player to watch," Johns said. "Angus Grant (age 26) will also play forward. He's six-foot-three and has the ability to kick big bags. "He hurt his hand during the pre-season, but has been able to keep his legs ticking over and we're really looking forward to getting him out on the park." At aged 32, Whitty is the most experienced of the new recruits the Roos have added. "He's a forward/mid who is six-foot-one and reads the ball really well. He leads from the front and has a lot of knowledge to be able to share with our younger guys," Johns said. Both Whitty and Woltering - who Johns describes as a "tackling machine" - join the Roos from Old Haileybury. The Roos also have two former players back at the club in Jarryd Wiegard and Tim Brooks. As well as the losses of Lang and Johnson, other departures from the Roos include their two leading goalkickers from last season in Lachlan Wilson to Huntly and Mitch Rovers to Mount Pleasant. Brodie Fry and Jackson Fry have also moved to Huntly. DISPOSALS Liam Collins 262 Nicholas Keogh 239 Mitchell Collins 207 Ryan O'Keefe 200 Mitch Rovers 198 Jade Mayes 184 Ethan Roberts 162 Nicholas Lang 160 Sam Barnes 151 Kyle Symons 125 MARKS Ryan O'Keefe 86 Nicholas Keogh 76 Nicholas Lang 71 Lachy Wilson 70 Jade Mayes 63 Sam Barnes 62 Mitch Rovers 57 Liam Collins 53 Ethan Roberts 50 Kyle Symons 49 CLEARANCES Liam Collins 140 Mitchell Collins 96 Nicholas Lang 49 Kyle Symons 38 Mitch Rovers 37 Max Johnson 35 Mitchell Trewhella 27 Campbell Smith 26 Ethan Roberts 25 Bryce Franzini 20 TACKLES Mitchell Collins 102 Liam Collins 94 Jade Mayes 60 Mitchell Trewhella 49 Brodie Fry 45 Patrick Murphy 45 Kyle Symons 43 Campbell Smith 41 Ethan Roberts 38 Mitch Rovers 37 GOALS Lachy Wilson 30 Mitch Rovers 19 Sam Barnes 10 Ethan Roberts 9 Mitchell Collins 6 Mitchell Holt 5 Hamish Lockhart 5 Campbell Smith 5 Max Johnson 5 Jack Barras 5 Coach: Jayden Cowling. Last year: Runners-up (17-4). 2022 best and fairest: Chelsea Sartori. Player gains: Lara Judd, Chloe Fletcher. Promoted: Rose Kennett, Amaya Schmidt. Last A-grade premiership: 2016. REDEMPTION will be the prevailing theme of Kangaroo Flat's BFNL netball season. The Roos are set to enter the season full of confidence, with reappointed coach Jayden Cowling adamant last year's grand final loss to Sandhurst will not hold his team back in 2023. Instead, it will provide them with plenty of motivation. "We have spoken about it during the pre-season, that redemption is our theme for the year," Cowling said. "It's been a little while since Kangaroo Flat has won a netball premiership. We've been thereabouts in A-grade, but we haven't won one for a few years. "We want to make sure we are doing all we can off the court to make sure we get it right on the court. "Obviously, it's a long season, but redemption is the key for us. We want to make sure we do what we can to get five teams through to grand finals this year." While they have not won an A-grade premiership since 2016, Kangaroo Flat has never been far from contending. They have made the last two grand finals (2019 and 2022) and were on track to be a participant again in 2021, before the season was called-off without finals being played due to the COVID pandemic. They will start the season from a position of strength after retaining all of last year's A-grade side, led by BFNL team selections Chelsea Sartori, Abbey Ryan, Milly Wicks and Ashley Ryan, who has progressed well from the foot injury which sidelined her during last year's finals series. The defence will again be anchored by Carly Van Den Heuvel and Ingrid Hopkins, while Lou Dupuy will rejoin Abbey Ryan in the goal circle. The Roos have added former North Central representative Lara Judd and former Huntly goal shooter Chloe Fletcher to their A-squad, and expect to regain goal shooter Annie Spear at some point of the season after she missed all of last year with an ankle injury. In an exciting pointer to the future, two of the stars of last year's 17-and-under team, which finished runners-up to Gisborne, Amaya Schmidt and Rose Kennett, have been promoted to the A-squad. Schmidt was the Roos' 17-and-under best and fairest, while Kennett was the runner-up. Cowling said both had excelled during the pre-season. "They had great seasons last year and trialled really well at tryouts," he said. "It's obviously a big step up from 17-and-unders to the A-squad, but they are putting in the hard work. "We have five 17-and-unders from last season coming up into the senior squad (across all grades), so it's a great opportunity for those girls. "It was a really great (17-and-under side) last year considering it was the first year a lot of them had played together." The Roos will get the chance to put some of the disappointment of last year's grand final defeat behind them early, having drawn their nemesis Sandhurst in round one. It's the first time since 2018 that the previous season's two netball grand finalists have met each other in round one. The two teams actually met in a practice match a few weeks ago. Cowling is confident the Roos can again be a major contender. "Except for the grand final loss, last year was a really good season for us," he said. "You can't complain when you have five teams make it to preliminary finals, not many sides get to do that. "We play for a reason. We play to have fun, but we also play to win, so we are keen to go that one step further this season." KANGAROO FLAT ROUND 1 - April 15 v Sandhurst (a) ROUND 2 - April 22 v South Bendigo (h) ROUND 3 - April 29 v Maryborough (a) ROUND 4 - May 6 v Gisborne (h) ROUND 5 - May 13 v Castlemaine (a) ROUND 6 - May 27 v Eaglehawk (h) ROUND 7 - June 3 v Strathfieldsaye (a) ROUND 8 - June 10 v Kyneton (a) ROUND 9 - June 17 v Golden Square (h) ROUND 10 - June 24 v Sandhurst (h) ROUND 11 - July 8 v South Bendigo (a) ROUND 12 - July 15 v Maryborough (h) ROUND 13 - July 22 v Gisborne (a) ROUND 14 - July 29 v Castlemaine (h) ROUND 15 - August 5 v Eaglehawk (a) ROUND 16 - August 12 v Strathfieldsaye (h) ROUND 17 - August 19 v Kyneton (h) ROUND 18 - August 26 v Golden Square (a) Eaglehawk Gisborne Golden Square Maryborough South Bendigo Strathfieldsaye 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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