Year 12

Back: Brenden Mansfield (Manager), Mitch Hughes, Jared McMurray, Lachlan Doig, Trent Newton, Brayden Moore, Leighton Mansfield, Jack Smith, Nathan Dobra, Tom Eastaugh, Carl Graham, Matt Hansen (Coach), Craig Hansen (Asst. Coach)
Middle: Matthew Berry, Riley Moretti, Jackson White, Riley Hansen, Liam Collins, Michael Drake, Brodie Breen, Alex Dickson, Liam Minervini
Front: Ryan Brass, Zyrak Smith, Cameron Cullen, Sam Coleman, Jacob Toomath, Ben Chidgzey, Sean Amos, Ricardo Valentino
Absent: Ned Brennan, Blair Curtain, Mathew John, Roy Juboy, Josh Pearson, Kennedy Sorrell

2016 was the last year of Junior footy for the Booragoon Year 12s and at the beginning of the season we had 18 returning players and 15 new ones, including two playing Australian Rules Football for the first time. Being limited to 25 players a game introduced the challenge of finding the best way to ensure that all of our players got the most out of the season and were able to enjoy their football.

Remarkably, this would not be a problem as we only fielded 25 players once and played with 18 or less 6 times. It was the other side of the equation that hurt us with a number of season ending injuries and players being called up to colts severely limiting the number of eligible players each week.

Heading into the season I didn’t put any expectations on our team with my main priority being to develop a fun environment for these guys to play their last year of junior footy together. As well as to play an exciting brand of football for both the players and spectators.

Throughout the year we had our highs and lows with a couple of bounces of the footy not falling our way preventing us from making the finals.  Overall I am very proud of the way these guys performed each week and it has been a rewarding experience to get to know them all as young men and to provide them with an outlet from the rigours of study and/or work.

I’d like to highlight my favourite game of the season in Round 13 against Palmyra. Having been beaten convincingly by Palmyra at home in round 4 we started well but a 2nd quarter burst by Pally had us down by 22 at half time. A huge 3rd quarter effort by the Bulldogs levelled the scores and a nail biting final term finished with Booragoon 2 points ahead.

The win required a special effort from every player on the field and I couldn’t have asked for more after Zyrak Smith, who had been good all day, came off injured during the 3rd quarter and reduced us to 20 players. The comeback was spurred by the performances of Trent Newton and Tom Eastaugh out of the middle with Alex Dickson playing a big role off half back with a number of intercept marks and Carl Graham and Riley Moretti being dangerous up forward. There were lots of other noteworthy performances this year but I’ll remember that game for a long time.

The season couldn’t have happened without the efforts of all the volunteers at the club. A special thank you to Craig Hansen (Assistant Coach), Brenden Mansfield (Team Manager), Anthony Doig (Club President) and all the parents who helped out with game day responsibilities.

Lastly, a thank you to the players themselves who made the year so fun. There are a lot of characters in this team and the input of each individual was important throughout the year. All the best for your futures and hopefully football plays a part in that.

Matt Hansen (Coach)

Booragoon JFCs 2016 Year 12 team will be coached by Matthew Hansen, playing in the Fremantle Conference.

Thank you to the players of the U17’s this season for their enthusiasm, effort and hard work they have put into the 2011 season.  I have spent the last 2 seasons coaching these boys and have really enjoyed my involvement.

With so many of our players playing at East Fremantle Colts and a serious injury to one of our best players, I thought the U17’s team had an outstanding season, winning 7 out of 12 games played this season and in the games they lost, 4 of those games were by narrow margins.  We only played one game this season near full strength, which of course we won.

I am very proud, as I am sure the parents and the Club are of the way the U17’s played their football this season and the way they handled being forfeited 2 games by East Fremantle JCC, which cost us a place in the finals.  The boys could have given it all away when we found out about the forfeits, but showed great character as a team and won our last 2 games convincingly, so what could have been we will never know.

Congratulations to Declan Newing, Cam Atkin, Zac Wilton, Matt Hansen, Jacob Green and Alex Howson for being selected in the East Fremantle Colts squad at the start of the season.  Usually, this would mean that those 6 boys would train with the colts team throughout the season and may be play 1 or 2 games and play the rest of the season with the U17’s, but of course when our U17’s got their chance to play colts, they played to such a high standard that 3 of the boys became permanent players of the East Fremantle Colts team and we finished the season with 4 of the boys playing East Fremantle Colts for our last 2 games, which was an outstanding effort by those boys.

I hope all the boys continue to play football next season, wherever that may be and always remember the great junior years they had playing football for the Booragoon Bulldogs.

My thanks to Kane Tomasevich for being an outstanding Captain for the U17’s in 2011.  Thanks also to Craig, Trevor, Noel and Jane for their help on game days.  Thank you to the BJFC Committee and the parents of the U17’s for all your help over the season.

On behalf of the boys, parents and Club I would like to thank Ross Atkin, Ross started coaching this team in Auskick until U13’s and then took on the role as Assistant Coach from U14’s to U17’s.  Thank you Ross for your involvement with this team over their 12 years of Junior Football, it is very much appreciated by all of us.

This will be my last season with the Booragoon Junior Football Club, so I wish the Club all the best for the future.  Finally, thanks again to the great group of young men of the Booragoon U17’s, I am very proud that I can say I coached this team.

Greg Pearson (Coach)