2020 Practice Matches Have Arrived
Barwon Heads this week enter into the next phase of pre season when we play
GFL club South Barwon in a practice game on Thursday 5th March at Oakdene
Oval Estate in Ocean Grove commencing at 6.00pm.
Our 2020 campaign involved a four week block of 3 nights per week prior to
Christmas before resuming in the New Year on the 15th January.
Training has been on a Monday, Wednesday and Thursday night with extra
sessions on a Tuesday night under the guidance of Tim “Death” McIntyre and
Saturday mornings with Kane “Sugar” Purcell. Over 70 players have attended
sessions since Christmas and it also has been a great opportunity for new
line coach Max Melzer and Damian “Strawbs” Horbury to take control on
Thursday nights.
Senior Coaches Troy Mitchell and Mitch Herbison have been supported by their
coaching staff in Sam Schaller, James Garvey, Andrew Philp, Shane
McLauchlan, Joel Heil and Dave Orchard in preparing our player group for the
upcoming 2020 season.
The Football Department had a focus on player retention and also being
selective with our recruiting. This resulted in a very high retention rate
with only 3 of our premiership 22 departing our club with two of our young
guns Zach Walter and Charlie Sprague earning VFL contracts with Geelong and
aligning themselves with GFL clubs Newtown and St Marys. This progression is
very important and we wish both young men all the best in this next stage of
their football journey. Chris Martin has relocated to work and live in
Melbourne with his partner and he has dropped back to play on an ad hoc
basis with GDFL club Geelong West. Tyson Macilwain who joined the CFA last
year and was restricted to only 6 matches has been relocated to Warrnambool
and will play for Port Fairy in the Hampden FL.
On a positive note, Barwon Heads are very excited by the long list of new
players who have joined the Seagulls for the 2020 season which includes :
Will Jacobs – 26 year old key defender from Warrnambool – dual premiership
player and rep player in Hampden FL and Team of the Year.
Matthew Iannelli – 29 year old mid sized utility who has played 100 senior
games of GFL football with Bell Park.
Zach Wright – 26 year old tall mobile forward from St Mary’s and won their B
& F at Reserves level in 2019.
Bayley Cockerill – 21 year old tough midfielder from Lara who also played
with Geelong Falcons.
Tom O’Callaghan – 20 year old key forward from St Mary’s – missed last 2
seasons with knee issue and played 2 senior games as 17 year old.
Samual Torpy – 19 year old small forward from St Mary’s and also played 26
games with Geelong Falcons.
Riley Berg – 18 year old utility who joins from St Joseph’s
Other new players to join the Heads include Lachlan Huismann (South
Bendigo), Tom Douglas (St Mary’s), Mason Fraser (St Mary’s), Ben Hovey (St
Mary’s), Tyson Bock (Cohuna Kangas) and Harley Gill (Torquay).
Barwon Heads also welcomes back 8 players who are all one point players
which includes :
Bobby Wallace – former co coach and Best and Fairest Cameron O’Leary –
former co captain and Best and Fairest (back from overseas) Leigh Sartori –
key defender (back from injury) Seb Kent – utility (back from injury) Andy
Walsgott – midfielder (back from overseas) Scott Michell – small forward
(back from overseas) Cody Diana – key position (back from injury) Josh
Saville – utility (back from injury)
Barwon Heads also welcome back former junior Teia Miles who has departed
Hawthorn (AFL) to play at Geelong VFL and will have Barwon Heads as his home
aligned club in 2020.
It is also pleasing to have 7 graduates from our 2019 Colts to transition
into senior football – Noah Young, Dom Booth, Kai Copland, Max Gumley, Oscar
Irwin, Nic Sutton and Koran Treweek.
Our remaining practice match schedule is :
Saturday 14th March v University Blacks @ Barwon Heads (Reserves and
Seniors)
Saturday 28th March v Spotswood @ Barwon Heads (Colts, Reserves and Seniors)
Brendan Curry (Football Director)