Another successful Melbourne Tour for South Fremantle 16s squad

SOUTH Fremantle’s 16s squad recently completed its annual Melbourne tour from July 5-11 to officially end their development program. The tour is considered a vital part of the development of these players and a once in a lifetime opportunity to play and watch football in Melbourne.

The tour party consisted of 35 players, talent manager Jason Pedulla, head coach Jason Matthews, assistant coaches Simon Maxwell, Glenn Kirkwood, Steve Jones and Jye Depane as well as team manager Leon Flanagan and physiotherapist Lucy Kennedy assisted whilst in Melbourne.

TOUR OVERVIEW
The boys flew over on Tuesday July 5 and played two games of football. One against the Calder Cannons on Wednesday July 6 and the second against St Kevin’s College on Friday July 8.

The team played some of their best football whilst away in Melbourne and achieved a historic first ever win against the Calder Cannons in wintery conditions.

Whilst it was definitely a team effort, players such as Corey Chanter and Dylan Marriott impressed with their physicality on the opposition and with Angus McKay giving our midfielders first use around stoppages we looked dangerous all day.

Shawn Cole finished with five goals, including an incredible soccer goal and Jason Spencer, Kyle Hamersley and Josh Grant all played outstanding games.

Final scores were:
South Fremantle 9.7 (61) defeated Calder Cannons 4.7 (31)

After a rehab session at the Melbourne Baths the players and staff headed out for the traditional dinner at Toto’s in Lygon Street and it’s fair to say a large amount of pizza and pasta were consumed that night.

The next day the boys were to get their football fix with a full day of activities planned. It started with a tour of the MCG Sports Museum before heading to Arden Street to watch North Melbourne’s main training session.

After that it was in the bus out to Essendon’s training facility where the boys were in for a real treat. Upon arrival they were greeted by cult figure Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti who was kind enough to have a photo with almost every player.

Once inside they boys had a chat to Orazio Fantasia about his football journey before heading into the club’s indoor facility The Hangar for a training session. The boys were staggered by the facilities on offer at Essendon and thoroughly enjoyed the session.

Once the training session was completed it was back into the club to have a chat with South Fremantle legend John Worsfold. John gave a brief overview of his career at both South Fremantle and West Coast before answering the questions thrown up by the players and staff.

The next day it was off to St Kevin’s to play the second game of the tour. After a disappointing result against St Kev’s last year the squad were keen to put in a strong performance.

Blake Simpson set the tone in the first 20 seconds of the game with a brilliant chase and tackle from centre half-forward (which he would later win best tackle for) and from then on the boys played their most complete game as a team.

Angus McKay and Nash Miller were outstanding in the ruck and with Deegan Sutherland, Brodie Bates, and Brodie Plunkett mopping up everything that came near them down back the boys led by 59 points at half-time.

Kyle Hamersley, Josh Grant and Maverick Hamilton all played outstanding games in a wing rotation and they provided the link all day delivering into key forwards Shawn Cole (four goals) and Blake Simpson (two) who presented hard all day.

Jeremy Sierociak crumbed beautifully kicking four goals including a miraculous checkside from the boundary line that would be judged best goal of the carnival, robbing Toby McQuilkin who also kicked a freak goal out of a stoppage.

There wasn’t one passenger on the day with every player putting in an amazing performance with the coaches impressed with the defensive work rate by all players and the slick ball movement when attacking.

Final results were:
South Fremantle 18.18 (126) defeated St Kevin’s 2.1 (13)

After the game against St Kevin’s we headed out to Hawthorn with recent South Fremantle draftee Kade Stewart showing the boys around the facilities at Waverley. After the tour, Kade answered plenty of questions from the boys and gave an insight into the requirements of an AFL player.

Saturday the boys were rewarded with free time and the shoe shops in Melbourne copped a hammering. Later that night we headed to Etihad to watch an absolute cracking game of football between the Western Bulldogs and Richmond Tigers.

Sunday was again a bit of free time for the team to explore Melbourne before heading to the MCG to watch Carlton take on Adelaide. Whilst not as enjoyable a game as the night before, each player was given the task to analyse the game and report on a specific player.

These reports were then handed to the coaching staff who were impressed with the detail and accuracy of what the boys picked up live.

Sunday night we had our presentation dinner and former South Fremantle players (and both currently at Hawthorn) Kade Stewart and Jermaine Miller-Lewis attended to help present the awards.

They were as follows:
Best Players: Kyle Hamersley & Josh Grant
Leading Goalkicker: Shawn Cole (9)
Best Goal: Jeremy Sierociak
Best Tackle: Blake Simpson
Best Physical Pressure Act: Kyle Hamersley with Angus McKay an honourable mention

SUMMARY & THANK YOU
In summary it was a fantastic trip with the boys thoroughly enjoying themselves and creating lifelong friends and memories. The club would like to thank everyone involved in helping create and run another successful Melbourne Tour including partners of our 16s program Metwest Steel, Harvey Fresh and FLN Group.