2021 ANNUAL REPORT
TALENT & DEVELOPMENT
I’d like to thank Coaches Tom Hunter, Michael Talbot, Vince Dattoli, Brett Chandler and Adrian Talarico for leading our Academy groups, as well as the many passionate and dedicated Assistant Coaches who made the program a success.
Brad Jamison Football Operations Manager
This year once again provided many challenges, but we were fortunate to be able to complete our Yarra Magpies Academy Under 13, 14 and 15 programs. Almost 400 players were given the opportunity to be involved in the Academy this year and we hope they enjoyed the experience. One of the highlights was the ‘draft combine’ testing conducted in the April school holidays for our Under 14 and 15 groups. This gave the boys and girls an opportunity to become familiar with fitness testing activities such as the 20m sprint, agility test, and vertical jump, helping to preparing them as they move into NAB League and hopefully higher levels of football in the future. While it was disappointing not to take part in the Metro Development Series, we were pleased to finish the Under 14 and 15 programs with a round of matches against the Mornington Peninsula Junior Football League (MPJFL) across two days in the July school holidays. We share a similar vision to the MPJFL with representative footy and look forward to an ongoing partnership. The live streaming of these matches by GameFace, and the additional media content produced internally throughout the duration of the Yarra Magpies Academy was also extremely successful and provided high level of traffic to our website and social media platforms.
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We had to navigate one short lockdown and their flexibility to adapt was greatly appreciated. While the traditional Shepparton Under 16 matches were cancelled, we were also able to run a three week program for this age group led by Dale Mayne (boys) and Penny Cula-Reid (girls) with both squads also playing the MPJFL. With the extended lockdown in the second half of the year, the Under 12 futures program didn’t take place in August/September, but we will look to bring this back at the end of 2022. We look forward to planning for next year and giving another group of Yarra Junior Football League players the opportunity to participate in our talent programs.
