Game Day Record
After losing close to two full seasons to the Covid 19 pandemic, it is terrific to see the Junior Seasons come to their conclusion over the next fortnight. Congratulations to all our players, coaches, umpires and clubs on making it this far and we hope you enjoy the occasion.
Thank you to Andy Gibbons, who has done an outstanding job leading our Juniors. His passion for our region and league is second to none. His sense of humour, enthusiasm and strong relationships with clubs and volunteers has seen him continue to provide fantastic support for our junior clubs
MESSAGE FROM THE CEO
Thankyou to our Junior Major Sponsor, Glenbrae signs, who have been long standing and valued sponsors of Outer East. Garry and his team are terrific supporters of football across clubs across the East and we are grateful for their ongoing support. We welcomed Project Gap this year as Interleague Sponsors. The experience of completing AFL testing and training has been invaluable for our junior participants and interleague program. Our boys and girls' programs were highly competitive against much larger leagues, which is due to both a committed and knowledgeable coaching group and this initiative.
Thankyou to our Junior Clubs, their committees and families who all play a significant part in making this a vibrant, thriving Junior Competition. We appreciate all the support you provide us and your persistence and commitment through an extremely challenging period.
Best of luck to all teams today and congratulations on your seasons Aaron Bailey
It is important to remember that this is junior sport and I encourage all spectators, parents and friends attending our Grand Finals that these games, whilst important, are played and in most cases umpired by children and the match day experience is much more important than the Ourresult.Junior numbers have been extremely pleasing this year, with 102 teams competing across all our age groups. We have seen a steady rise in participation numbers over the past 5 years, with an increase of 30 teams. Grading, Friday Night Under 9’s and the work of our clubs has been a significant contributor to this, as has a significant investment in junior representative programs.
Under 18 Girl’s John O’Brien, Ben Harrison & Isabella Rennick
The carnival began on a cold winters evening out at Lang Warren, 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 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 marvellous talent in our region.
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.
JUNIOR INTERLEAGUE
Under 14 Girl’s Emma Horne
Under 13 Boy’s Steve Martin & Matt Byron
Under 16 Girl’s Bryce Edwards & Claire Knell
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.
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
AndyThanks,Gibbons
Under 15 Boy’s – Brad Bates & Shane Newsome
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.
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.
Under 17 Boy’s Jack Pruden, Jake Hollingsworth & Stewy Alford
Overall, I was extremely proud of all our teams and hoped 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.
The above coaches went over and above in their commitment to our program “Thank You”
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 12 GIRLS- WESBURN V MT EVELYN WESBURN VS MT EVELYN SUNDAY 21ST AUGUST WANDIN 9.00 AM STREAMED LIVE ON OUTER EAST FN SOCIALS FROM 9AM Head to Head • Wesburn lead 3 0 Ladder Positions Wesburn 1st 13 wins 1 Loss Mt Evelyn 2nd 8 wins 5 losses Previous Meetings • Round 6 Wesburn 11.4 Def Mt Evelyn 0.0 • Round 11 Wesburn 5.2 Def Mt Evelyn 1.1 • Round 14 Mt Evelyn 1.0 Lost to Wesburn 5.2 Semi Final Results • Wesburn 3.7 Def Belgrave 1.0 • Mt Evelyn 4.5 Def Healesville 3.1
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FINAL THOUGHTS
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Josh Plunkett Wesburn Coach At Wessy we are passionate about girls footy in the outer east! This year seeing all the girls from all teams play our game and loving all that comes with it was an experience so rewarding you can’t help but find a new love for the game. This year the Wesburn U12 Girls making the Grand final in their first year of football is a testament to the characters within our team. The effort and determination in our group not only make them incredible budding footballers but an amazing group of young ladies. Win, lose or draw the culture the girls have created this year will set them up for a bright future in Girls / Women’s footy we are so proud of them! Go Wessy! ❤️������ Mt Evelyn Not available at time of print
GRAND FINAL PREVIEW
Wesburn progressed to the decider with a win against Belgrave. It has been some debut season for Wesburn in the girls, taking all before it. They have won all three meetings against Mt Evelyn this year, however the contests have got closer every time and Mt Evelyn have been steady improvers across the season. Mt Evelyn have progressed to the 2022 Grand Final after wins against Olinda and Healesville. Finishing second on the ladder, they have had a terrific season to get to the decider. Wesburn will enter as warm favourites but know they face a Mt Evelyn who have improved significantly. It promises to be a hugely entertaining fixture at Clegg Rd, a ground that suits both teams.
Emeraldmeetings.advanced
Odgers
“We've enjoyed two close battles with Gembrook Cockatoo this season and this final looks set to be another close game. I think the contested ball battle in the midfield will play a key role in determining the result, and we're confident our mids can get on top in this area. Both teams have great defensive units, so we'll need to take our opportunities and kick straighter for goal than we did last week. The kids are super excited to be afforded the opportunity to play in a Grand Final and we're thankful that the leagues provided this final series.”
Gembrook Cockatoo Coach Jason Jeans “Our under 11s grand will be a hard contest against Emerald, and we know they are a good team and we will have to be at our best to beat them. But I have confidence we can turn things around from the last time we played them.”
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UNDER 11 RANGES- EMERALD VS GEMBROOK COCKATOO EMERALD VS GEMBROOK COCKATOO SUNDAY 21ST AUGUST STREAMED10.30WANDINAM LIVE ON OUTER EAST FN SOCIALS FROM 10.30 AM Head to Head • Emerald leads 2 0 Season EmeraldRecord 5 wins 8 Losses 1 Draw Gembrook Cockatoo 3 wins 10 losses 1 Draw Previous Meetings • Round 12 Gembrook Cockatoo 2.2 Emerald 7.7 • Round 14 Gembrook Cockatoo 2.1 Emerald 9.3 Semi Final Results • Emerald 4.6 Def Seville 3.1 • Gembrook Cockatoo 2.5 Def Wandin 1.4 GRAND FINAL PREVIEW
FINAL EmeraldTHOUGHTSCoachBlair
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Local rivals Emerald and Gembrook Cockatoo face off in the Under 11 Yarra Grand Final, with bragging rights likely to extend school playgrounds, families and at the local shops. Emerald have had the better of the match ups between the sides this year, winning comfortably in both games. The Brookers have been a low scoring side this year, so will need to curtail the Bombers attack which has been potent in both to the decider with a hard fought win against a determined Seville, who hung around all day and at one point looked likely to cause a big upset. Gembrook Cockatoo won a thriller against Wandin to earn another crack at their biggest rivals. For both clubs, in their first year of competitive football, this is a wonderful achievement for the kids and should be an entertaining contest.
Mt Evelyn enter Sunday’s decider in terrific form, with two commanding wins in the finals. Their opponent, Upwey Tecoma caused an enormous upset in defeating the previously undefeated Healesville by a point to book their place in the Grand InFinal.the only encounter between the two sides, Mt Evelyn kept Upwey in the contest through their inaccurate kicking, with only 4 goals from their 17 scoring shots. However, they face a much improved Upwey Tecoma this time around having won 10 straight, on a ground that both sides would welcome, similar in length to their home decks. Upwey Tecoma will take confidence from the Healesville win that their best is good enough, but will need to replicate that against the top side Under 11’s Yarra in Mt Evelyn.
FINAL THOUGHTS
UNDER 11 YARRA- MT EVELYN VS UPWEY TECOMA MT EVELYN VS UPWEY TECOMA SUNDAY 21ST AUGUST STREAMED11.50WANDINAM LIVE ON OUTER EAST FN SOCIALS FROM 11.50AM Head-to-Head • Mt Evelyn lead 1 0 Ladder Positions Mt Evelyn 2nd 13 wins and 1 loss Upwey Tecoma 9 wins 5 Losses Previous Meetings • Upwey Tecoma 1.0 lost to Mt Evelyn 4.13 Semi Final Results • Mt Evelyn 4.5 Def Olinda Ferny Creek 0.0 • Upwey Tecoma 2.4 Def Healesville 2.3 GRAND FINAL PREVIEW
Mt Evelyn Coach Josh Sceberras “We are looking forward to a tough, well contested grand final today. Both teams have worked, trained, and played hard to get here and should be very proud. Our boys have had a fantastic season and are a great group of kids. 'We aren't a team of champions. We are a champion team! Go Rovers!” Leigh Girginis Upwey Tecoma Coach “So excited for the grand final this Sunday our great little team have just been going from strength to strength for the last 10 weeks and the link up play has been great to watch. In saying this the finals games have been hard for both us and the teams we played. This Sunday will be the ultimate test for both side’s and their strengths. The team who brings the most intensity for the longest time will no doubt be the winner. Best of luck to both teams. C’mon Tigers let’s make it 11 wins in a row.”
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Wesburn have taken all before them this year in Under 13 Division 3, going through the season undefeated and advancing to this year’s decider in convincing fashion against Sunday’s opponents Yarra Glen. Yarra Glen bounced back beautifully last week against Gembrook Cockatoo with a terrific four quarter performance. Though the head to head is 4 0 in favour of Wesburn, Yarra Glen will take confidence from the fact they have pushed Wesburn during the season and will look back to Round 9 as a template for what is required to knock off the all conquering Doggies.
FINAL THOUGHTS
“Sunday's game should be a cracking match. Yarra Glen and Wesburn have had three really close and competitive home and away matches this season. They have been the team that has driven us to play at a higher level of footy this year, and a great rivalry is forming between the two clubs. We'll have to work hard and play at our best to beat them.”
The Yarra Glen U13s are excited and looking forward to the opportunity to play in the Grand Final on Sunday. We acknowledge that Wesburn have been far and away the best team over the course of the home and away season. However, a four quarter performance against Gembrook Cockatoo in the Preliminary Final see's moral and enthusiasm high. Our backline is settled, and our midfield have been working hard on providing opportunities to our forwards, we believe it will be a tight and contested game. Good luck to all players on the weekend.
Wesburn Coach Scott Mikkelsen
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Yarra Glen Coach Matt Coghlan
UNDER 13 DIV 3- WESBURN V YARRA GLEN WESBURN VS YARRA GLEN SUNDAY 21ST AUGUST 1.10WANDINPM STREAMED LIVE ON OUTER EAST FN SOCIALS FROM 9AM Head to Head • Wesburn lead 4 0 Ladder WesburnPositions1 st 14 wins 0 Losses Yarra Glen 2nd 9 Wins 4 Losses 1 Draw Previous Meetings • Round 7 Yarra Glen 0.3 Wesburn 4.7 • Round 9 Yarra Glen 2.3 Lost to Wesburn 2.7 • Round 13 Wesburn 5.7 Def Yarra Glen 2.0 • Qualifying Final Wesburn 12.5 Def Yarra Glen 1.0 Semi Final Results • Wesburn 12.5 Def Yarra Glen 1.0 • Yarra Glen 6.5 Def Gembrook Cockatoo 2.8 GRAND FINAL PREVIEW
Matt Bryan Emerald Coach “Emerald is looking forward to playing in the Grand Final against Wandin. Wandin are a great side and have been the yardstick for the competition all season. We’ve played patches of our best footy against them during the season and we feel our players are hitting form at the business end of the season and can bring our best footy to Grand Final Day and make it a great game. Good luck to both teams.’
The Grand Final between Wandin and Emerald will again be another great game between the two. Matt’s team have pushed us all season and so far, we have risen above. Finals are completely different taking our best so far with all our 23 players contributing strongly to be here today. Grand finals are a step above again and we will need to be at our very best to win against a very good Emerald team. Good luck to both teams.
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FINAL THOUGHTS Paul Kearney Wandin Coach
Wandin enter the 2022 Under 13 Yarra Grand Final as raging hot favourites, going through the season undefeated. They were pushed by Emerald in the Qualifying Final but have been the premier side in the Under 13 age group this year. Emerald have had a fantastic season as well, with their only losses coming against Wandin. The bombers overcame a determined Healesville in the Preliminary final to earn another crack at the Doggies. Emerald on multiple occasions this year have pushed Wandin and will know that their best will give them a chance but face a side on their home deck that has proven time and again to be the side to beat this year.
GRAND FINAL PREVIEW
UNDER 13 YARRA- WANDIN VS EMERALD WANDIN VS EMERALD SUNDAY 21ST AUGUST 2.40WANDINPM STREAMED LIVE ON OUTER EAST FN SOCIALS FROM 9AM Head-to-Head • Wandin Lead 4 0 Ladder WandinPositions1 st 15 wins 0 Losses Emerald 2nd 12 wins 3 losses Previous Meetings • Round 4 Emerald 3.13 lost to Wandin 6.6 • Round 5 Wandin 9.6 Def Emerald 0.0 • Round 14 Emerald 1.4 lost to Wandin 14.8 • Qualifying Final Wandin 7.10 Def Emerald 2.1 Semi Final Results • Wandin 7.10 Def Emerald 2.1 • Emerald 5.7 Def Healesville 2.3
match
Owen Millwood Olinda Ferny Creek
The final game on Day 1 of Junior Grand Finals may be the pick of the bunch, in what looks to be a sensational group of ups. These two sides meet for the 7th time this year, with honours split between the two. Olinda Ferny Creek though have managed three wins on the trot in this match up, behind really strong defensive efforts. The Rovers will know that they will need to hit the score board if they are to overturn the past three results. Mt Evelyn overcame an inaccurate Woori Yallock last week in a thriller. These two sides have been the best two teams all year and it promises to be a thriller under lights at Clegg Rd THOUGHTS
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FINAL
UNDER 13 RANGES- OLINDA FERNY CREEK VS MT EVELYN OLINDA FERNY CREEK VS MT EVELYN SUNDAY 21ST AUGUST WANDIN 4.10 PM STREAMED LIVE ON OUTER EAST FN SOCIALS FROM 4.10 PM Head to Head • 3 wins a piece Ladder Positions Mt Evelyn 1st 12 wins 2 Losses Olinda Ferny Creek 2nd 9 Wins 5 Losses 1 Draw Previous Meetings • Round 2 Mt Evelyn 10.8 Def Olinda Ferny Creek 0.2 • Round 4 Mt Evelyn 7.3 Def Olinda Ferny Creek 5.6 • Round 7 Olinda Ferny Creek 4.4 Lost to Mt Evelyn 6.3 • Round 10 Mt Evelyn 1.2 Lost to Olinda Ferny Creek 3.5 • Round 15 Olinda Ferny Creek 10.8 Def Mt Evelyn 1.4 • Qualifying Final Olinda Ferny Creek 5.4 Def Mt Evelyn 1.2 Semi Final Results • Olinda Ferny Creek 5.4 Def Mt Evelyn 1.2 • Mt Evelyn 3.2 Def Woori 0.10 GRAND FINAL PREVIEW
“Olinda V Mt Evelyn is sure to be a cracking game with the ledger currently 3 to 2 for the season. Both teams have strong midfields which is where we believe the game will be won and lost. Both back lines are disciplined and so the team that takes their opportunities up forward will go a long way to winning the match for their respective team. May the best team win.” Matt Cooper Mt Evelyn “We have had some great competitive games against Olinda this season and no doubt the Grand Final will be another one Our boys will fight their hardest and bring their best game to hopefully get us over the line.”
