OUTER EAST JUNIOR INTERLEAGUE REPORT

After a disjointed 2021 Junior Interleague due to Covid, we decided to review and change our junior interleague program.

We wanted to give more players the opportunity to be a part of our representative program, we also needed to streamline our program to give every player a chance to flourish in a more professional structure. Firstly, we employed a Junior Interleague High-Performance Coordinator, Sebastian. Sebastian and I interviewed and selected the coach’s that we felt represented the professionalism we wanted for the program.

Under 13 Boy’s – Steve Martin & Matt Byron

Under 14 Girl’s – Emma Horne

Under 15 Boy’s – Brad Bates & Shane Newsome

Under 16 Girl’s – Bryce Edwards & Claire Knell

Under 17 Boy’s – Jack Pruden, Jake Hollingsworth & Stewy

Alfred

Under 18 Girl’s – John O’Brien, Ben Harrison & Isabella Rennick

The above coaches went over and above in their commitment to our program “Thank You.”

As we are a small league compared to others, we decided to merge our 14’s and 15’s into one Under 15 side and our 16’s and 17’s into one Under 17 side, this gave us a broader base to select from. We retained our 14,16 & 18 girls whilst also introducing an Under 13 Boys side. We started Phase 1 Interleague trials at the end of February and played trial games against MPJFL late March, after the trial games we progressed into Phase 2 Training selecting up to 50 players.

During the Phase 2 Training stage, we partnered with Project Gap and introduced a testing day similar to an AFL draft combine. Project Gap are a company that specialise in athletic development and the testing day was a huge success thanks to them.

After the Phase 2 testing day we trained for a couple of more weeks and then chose the 26 players to enter Phase 3 Interleague squad. About this time my right-hand man Sebastian was offered a position he could not refuse with the Melbourne football club. I would like to thank Sebastian for his effort and commitment to our Interleague program, he was surely missed during the concluding stages of the program.

The carnival began on a cold winters evening out at Langwarrin, where we played the MPJFL. Though the weather was cold our hearts were warmed by the effort of all our teams. Under 14 Girl’s had a narrow loss, under 15 Boy’s started their carnival with a brilliant win, under 16 Girl’s toughed it out for a great win, under 17 Boy’s played out a gutsy come from behind win and our Under 18 Girl’s stuck to their structure and came away with the win.

Our next game was on Saturday up against SEJ, this was our first game for our Under 13 Boy’s and even though they were out sized and out played, they gave their all. The Under 14 Girl’s had a stirring win kicking 3 goals to none in the last quarter, the Under 15 Boy’s continued to play great footy and had another win, the Under 16 Girl’s played well, but had a narrow loss, the Under 17 Boy’s couldn’t back up from their win on Wednesday night and had a competitive loss and our Under 18 Girl’s didn’t kick too well but dominated and had a great win.

Our last games were played on Monday against FDJFL, weather was good, and the girl’s games were even better. The Under 14 Girl’s gave their all and had a narrow win, after a fast start kicking 7 goals straight the Under 16 Girl’s just hung on to record a nail-biting draw and our Under 18 Girl’s proved they are one of the best teams in the southeast after hanging on to a win by 3 points. With 3 wins our Under 18 Girls have gone back-to-back and won the carnival once again.

Our boy’s teams did not have such a great day with our Under 13 Boy’s losing to a very disciplined FDJFL side, our Under 15 Boy’s had their first loss, but had a very successful carnival and our Under 17 Boys went down again, but showed we have some marvelous talent in our region. Overall, I was extremely proud of all our teams and hope all the players enjoyed their time in our interleague program. Thank you to all our parents and support staff, without your input our program would not be so successful. Also, a special mention and Thank you to our talent managers, Joseph Molluso (Head Talent Manager), Dan Holt (Male Talent Manager) & Glen Burton (Female Talent Manager).

Under 13 Boy’s – 2 losses

Under 14 Girl’s – 2 wins, 1 loss

Under 15 Boy’s – 2 wins, 1 loss

Under 16 Girl’s – 1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss

Under 17 Boy’s – 1 win, 2 losses

Under 18 Girl’s – 3 Wins