Womens Football – Coach Ryan Dobson

It’s fair to say that two weeks before round one, our goal of fielding a Carey women’s side for the first time in a long time was looking unlikely but with a combination of hard work, relentlessness and no doubt an element of luck we found ourselves taking the field against a strong Powerhouse side. We went on to lose 75 to 0.

Since that day numbers have continued to grow and performances improve and we now find ourselves two points behind the ladder leaders Elsternwick, winning three of our last five games.

The girls continue to impress with their rapid improvement and their ability to forge strong team bonds on the run with a total of thirty nine girls having played so far.

Standout performers for the club have been Lisa Walshe (11 goals) who has lead with aplomb on and off the field and Rose Chiaramonte who has now cemented a spot in the starting midfield

It’s been a massive club effort to get to this point and special mention must go to club president Michael Tarrant and Secretary Sam Hassett who I have relied upon heavily. I am lucky enough to have the continued support on game days from my stats man Mike Goodwin, part time assistant/runner Scott Chamberlain and the Strahan family who run the boundary, goal umpire and run water.

Moving into the middle section of the season, with continued dedication and growth, the sky is the limit!

 

Unders Football – Coach Keith Pereira

The U19 season has got off to a flying start with the team at time of writing currently sitting third on the ladder (on percentage); with 5 wins and one narrow loss.

Now that grading games have settled the division participants, the two teams above us – Old Camberwell and Glen Eira have built a healthy percentage and are only slightly ahead of us. Old Camberwell have come up to our division after dominating the division below ( they kept their percentage from the lower division when they came up ) and Glen Eira have had a chance to play some some weaker sides in this division so have a healthy percentage as a result. Happy to say that we have been the only side to beat these teams so far this season.

I’d have to say it’s quite a remarkable year for the U19 squad with the healthiest and largest numbers I have seen in the program since beginning at Old Carey in 2018.

This year we saw over twenty U19 players complete a hard preseason ( usually only a few U19 boys will do the whole preseason ); and we have had around 46 boys train at some stage with us this year ( excluding the schoolboys that have also played some practice matches with us pre school starting ). We currently have ‘working’ squad of around 41 boys to choose from each week. This does present some challenges with only one U19 team ( and only 24 players in the team each week ) but the whole squad has embraced the fact that there will be rotations each week to give everyone a fair go – sometimes up to 12 each week – and have committed wholeheartedly to the program which is fantastic.

Another fact that is very encouraging for the future of the club is that there are currently 6 players – Darcy Munro, Connor Ogilvie, Braden Andrews, Eli Taylor, Tommy Horton and Luca Anderson that are all playing senior football ( and very much regular fixtures in senior side ) that are still qualified to play U19’s.

Although we have a very strong, committed and talented group of boys in the program this year, the goals for the year that Assistant Coach Damian Stoney and I have set have not changed from the previous  years we have been looking after the U19 team. First and foremost is that the boys have fun and enjoy playing their footy. This might even be first, second and third on the list of priorities actually and always has been. The other key goals for us is that they hopefully learn something and improve individually and collectively over the coarse of the year, and lastly that they are playing footy at Old Carey next year and beyond. That’s it.

I’d be inauthentic if i didn’t say it’s usually more fun to win however, and although it’s always our intent – in truth the results; either good or bad, have been always been incidental to what we are trying to achieve.

This year however, I’m happy to say we have a squad that is loaded with talent across every line and would hope to have a very successful year both in terms of what we are trying to achieve and indeed wins and losses. When we play to our potential – we can match, and have already have beaten the front runners in this competition.

Led by our leadership group of Captain Angus Ayer, Vice Captains Mac Perry and Riley Elmer, and Deputy Vice Captains Sam Carmody, Jack Helmot, Jordan Peterson, Archer Simpson and James Horsey, the team has also had consistent performances from Isaac Ellwood, Charlie Gaiardo ( when not with the Sandringham Dragons ),  Liam Visser, Ned Benson and Harry Gow. Harry ( sadly for us!) has now headed off to live and work in upstate New York for the year and although the side will miss him, we certainly all wish him the best on his great adventure!

Just want to take this opportunity to thank my Assistant Coach and great mate Damian Stoney for his constant and indefatigable support,  and thank all the boys in the squad for the way they have embraced the program this year, the regular rotations and the need for players not playing to take on the many volunteer roles needed each week at the games.

I would urge any parents of the boys in the squad reading this to contact Dame or myself if you would like to be involved also. If you fancy jumping in and taking the much needed role of team manager – then we’d love to hear from you !

Go C’s

 

Reserves Football – Coach Zac Lisle

The start to Season 2023 hasn’t quite gone the way the Reserves had desired, despite some positive long-term signs for the club. Sitting 0-5, we find ourselves in a challenging position, but it’s a challenge the group is keen to tackle.

The competition in Premier C Reserve has proven to be interesting, with Reserves sides seemingly stronger. Our challenging start has also seen us come up against good opposition, with every side faced currently making up the top 5.

The negative has been the ability to string a whole game together, and really take advantage of sides when we get on a run. The positives have been the signs that we can take it up to the best in the grade, and the development of players such as James Woods, Lloyd Charlton, and Sam Morarty to take their games to the next level and play senior footy.

Max Razums has been enormous in his first year as a senior player, performing tirelessly in the ruck for the first three games, and booting 6 goals across the last two at full forward. Morarty earnt his senior call up with consistently classy performances in the midfield and across half forward, whilst Jeremy Cator has been instrumental at centre half back, keeping the opposition from scoring time and time again.

Our leaders have worked hard on and off field to drive and lift standards, led by skipper Mac Hogg who is having a great season on the wing. Backline stalwart Harry Thomson is also having a great year, and up forward a fit and firing Will Mumme was a presence before succumbing to a foot injury.

Off the field, we’ve had some great support through the efforts of John Hands as team manager preparing us for each week. A big thank you to Andrew and Johnny Gates for their umpiring, Greg for his work as goal umpire, and regular helpers Dyl, Slappa, Spence, and Chris Angus.

Looking ahead there are some very winnable games for the Reserves, starting with PEGS at home in Round 7. Whilst we know it’s going to be a challenge, this group has proved before that they are up to it, and we can’t wait to see them show the competition their best footy.

 

Senior Football

Presented with a 9-team competition – the first important part of the fixture was identifying the BYEs. For us – we were dealt the unenviable scenario of playing Round 1 before cooling our jets for 14 days and resurfacing in Round 3.

As a team fairly low on confidence after a poor 2022 season – It was near essential we bank the round 1 points. For 3 quarters it looked like we might – Woof looked like he might almost do it himself – but freshly promoted Old Camberwell showed us up in Quarter 4. Two weeks to lick our wounds and then face pre-season premiership favourite Old Ivanhoe.

 

Again a similar fate, but we were buoyed by fielding an improved side. Three rounds in, sitting toward the bottom of the table pressure had mounted (you could feel it). We just needed that dam-busting first win. It finally came against Mazenod, who we jumped early and then mercilessly pressed the point for the balance of the game. There was a fair bit of steam let off that night – belief was validated – and then we hit the track to improve again.

 

The trip out to Parkdale was a remarkable one – both sides didn’t give an inch all day. The match was a bit of a shoot out and midway through the last quarter it looked like we blinked first by dropping our discipline levels for several minutes. From a couple of goals back, a long last quarter allowed us to level at the 35-minute mark. A frantic final minute saw both sides get possession and the opportunity to advance forward, finally, it looked like us – the ball looped to the goal square – an uncontested mark almost certain. The siren blared rendering the game over before that mark could be taken. Probably a fitting result but we felt we took a step forward again by getting up off the canvas multiple times.

 

Our most recent game saw us head across the road to Marcellin for the first time in over a decade and we were pleased to get the match under control in the third quarter and grind the win. Suddenly we find ourselves right in the middle of the table and starting to ponder the possibilities – All fans should get on down this week, we’ll know a lot more about our side after this weekend – when we take on the undefeated PEGs on Dunshea Oval.

Our position – 2W – 2L – 1D – 1 Bye = 5^th on the Ladder. We’ve called on 31 players and have lots more waiting in the wings to get some senior experience.

We’ve got some very solid mature-age players in Mitch Wooffindin, Marc Lock, Tim Newton, Zander Adam and Tommy Jep in his 6^th season falls into that bracket too. What has been most exciting though is the 7 or so players born in 2003 & 2004 who’ve been vital to our success. Tom Horton, Luca Anderson have helped hold together the backline. Our targets up front look dangerous, through the insertion of Darcy Munro & James Woods. The mid-section of the ground sees Lachie Senior and Riley Thompson evolving into very dependable players. Other youngsters to watch are Connor Ogilvie, Eli Taylor & Lachy Godden.

Some of our club focuses and these hold up well on both sides of the boundary line, have included building our trust for each other, executing our role and holding our discipline. The remaining 11 H&A games will no doubt see some ups and downs – with each of these – we’ll look ahead and just get better.