Year 8

Back: Steve Dropulich (Manager), Graeme Fitzgerald (Coach), Lachie Ballantine, Leigh Wardell-Johnson (Asst. Coach), Roosevelt Williams, Thomas Gerovich, Jasper Stewart, Jake Thygesen, Benedict Nwannukwu, Bet Chamnan, Charles Casale, Ethan Lewins, Andrew Gerovich, Bernard Nwannukwu, Kyle MacDonald, Alex Marchese, Troy Irwin (Asst. Coach), Lachlan Wild, Nick Casale, Paul MacDonald
Front: Hamish Wardell-Johnson, Connor Fitzgerald, Jad Dropulich, Luke Frampton, Ryan Leong, Declan Ryan, Jackson Halse, Lochlan Irwin
Absent: Cameron Webb (inset), Liam Barnett (inset), Ethan Cook, Heidi Cook (Manager)

Firstly, I would like to thank our assistant coaches for their contribution this year, especially over the time I was away overseas. Paul “Macca” McDonald has hardly missed a training all year and is always reliable and is a great positive role model for the boys. Troy “Tank” Irwin has taken on the backline this year and can be well pleased with his performance with our team having the best defence in the league and conceding the least points in the entire competition for the home and away season. Nick “Up there” Casale had the difficult job of Boardman and did a fantastic job getting the boys on and off the field. Leigh “Two Dads” Wardell-Johnson was our skills man and his knowledge of the game has been an invaluable asset for our team.

A big thankyou to Steve Dropulich and Heidi Cook for their roles as team managers. We are very lucky to have 2 such organised people doing this job. Nothing is too much trouble and they just get on and get things done.

Special thanks to Mark Thygesen and Wayne Frampton for running our first aid. I know there have been some games where they have been quite busy and this can be quite a stressful job. I would also like to thank Pat Leong for helping out at training, running water on game day and being available to assist wherever possible. Thanks also to Chris Ryan for running the i-pad each week and well done to all other parent helpers on game days.

The season started where we only had two boys not returning from last year. Stacey Collier started the season with us, then graduated to the East Fremantle Youth team in the WAWFL. Disappointingly Ethan Cook broke his thumb in the first 5 minutes of the first game. This was his 2nd fracture in two seasons (it was 2nd game last year) and he decided he would give footy a miss for the rest of the year and concentrate on his tennis.

We had four new boys join the team this year. Benny and Bernie Bollum had their first season playing footy, Jasper Stewart returned after a season playing in the country and Roosevelt Williams returned after a season break from footy.

At the end of last year we spoke to the boys and advised that if they wanted to continue to play footy they needed to try to develop a competitive edge. This is the year that “edge” arrived and I can genuinely say we have a fantastic team. The boys bonded well, enjoyed each other’s company and played for each other and their team. At no stage in any game did they ever give up or stop believing.

I thought I would now write about what I loved about coaching this year and why my 11th year as a coach at Booragoon has been my favourite.

• Bet’s extreme pace and power running off half back
• Ginger’s strength to stay on his feet, keep the ball in front and execute terrific tackles
• Wildy’s fierce competitiveness and straight run off half back
• Thomas’s terrific strong hands and ability to take a great grab forward
• Jacko’s hard attack on the ball and fierce tackling for a small bloke
• Razza’s love of the tight in close contests and willingness to work at the bottom of the pack
• Hammer’s fantastic skills by foot and hand and ability to slow the game and hit up a target
• Jasper’s amazing kicking ability and skill at hitting up a target at 40-50 metres
• Benny’s run, chase, raw speed and ability to get to as many contests as he can
• Al’s sharp shooting around goal and willingness to work hard at training
• Gero’s fast run and carry of the ball forward as well as terrific high marking
• Liam’s improvement across the season and ability to take a strong mark
• Cam’s clever evasion and ability to kick a goal when forward
• Dropo’s beautiful raking left foot kick and being part of that hard working backline
• Machine’s determination to impact as many games as possible and fierce tackling
• Ballas’s ferocious attack on the ball, attack on the ball carrier and attack on the contest
• Roo’s raw athletic ability to jump, to mark, to run and fierce competitiveness
• Bernie’s love of playing footy, to train hard, to run hard and really worry the opposition
• Fitzy’s explosive attack to hit the ball and execute a full range of skills at extreme pace
• Kebabs rucking and ability to run all day with a fantastic raking kick. Deserved MOST IMPROVED AWARD
• Frammo’s role at fullback, hardly missed a training all season and being one of the most dependable members of the team. An apt winner of BEST TEAM MAN AWARD
• Jake Thygo’s hard work all season whether it be at training, playing as a strong forward or stepping in to help out rucking. He had a great season and was a pleasure to coach and much deserves his COACHES AWARD
• Dec’s steely approach to his footy, taking charge and making the backline his as well as his ability to hold the ball until he was confident he could hit a target. Dec very much deserved his RUNNER UP FAIREST AND BEST AWARD
• Chucky’s great all round season. His high marking, his work at ground level and his ability to take on the opposition and run and carry the ball. Charles led the team all year with his performance and deserved being voted the team’s FAIREST AND BEST

Finishing 2nd on the ladder after the home and away season was a great result for this team. When this report had to be in and go to print our season was still incomplete as we still have a Preliminary final and depending on that result, a Grand Final ahead.

Graeme  “Fitzy” Fitzgerald (Coach)

Back: Mark Casey (Runner), Peter Collins (Coach), Oliver Leonard, Jacob Lippiatt, Travis Gauntlett, Jack Norrish, Jacob Dean (hiding), Fynn Gardner (Captain), Ethan Richards, Michael Hardie, Sam Collins (Vice Captain), Nicholas Yeo, Tom Casey, Michael Price, Matthew Flowers, Luke Miller, Craig Flowers (Coach)
Front: Jackson Dolley, Ryan Sinnott, James Currey, Thomas Kinnane, Cameron Birkholz, Sam Grattidge, Thomas Grier, Riley Spinks
Absent: Tim Hollick

The Booragoon JFC has been blessed with the strongest Year 8 age group in its history. It’s a pleasure to be part of such a strong group of players and coaches who have been involved with this Year group for many years.

Michael Webb, one of the original Blues coaches who still plays a part today, started the wonderful culture that is the Year 8 Blues. We as coaches are merely facilitators to the development and success of the boys and the primary objective of the boys enjoying their football. There is no doubt that our team have had a lot of fun this year and finishing on top of the ladder is no doubt the outcome of a close team, who compete hard, display fantastic skills and play as a team.

The 2016 year started off with some new faces thanks to the solid recruitment drive our players undertook. As coaches we had to get to know the skills of the new boys and where they should play. All the new boys had to get used to their team mates and new coaches and find their role in the team. We as coaches don’t always get it right but as the year went on the team has got better and better. Simple skills such as blocking, tackling, shepherding and “talk” have improved all year.

There have been some outstanding contributions by many of our players and especially our Captain Fynn Gardner who has showed great leadership. We would like to make special mention of our Fairest and Best award winners, Thomas Grier and Samuel Collins and Runner Up Jack Norrish who all had outstanding seasons. I’m almost certain we would have had the “Coleman” medallist within our ranks also in the form of Sam Grattidge who had an outstanding season.

Thank you to all the parents who have been extremely supportive in the many roles that are required to support a football team. A big thank you to Andrew Spinks as the ever reliable, unflappable Team Manager yet again ably supported by Dave Gardner. Booragoon JFC has a fantastic Committee and thanks again to the President Anthony Doig with his significant contribution to the club success and on a Year 8 Premiership (we can’t lose with two Year 8 teams in the Grand Final).

The Year 8 Blues have displayed a fantastic team and parent culture during the year.  We congratulate everyone on an outstanding season conducted with sound sportsman like behaviour by parents and the boys, the Blues did not lose a Game Day Environment point during the year which is a testament to the “Blues Culture”. We hope our season will culminate in a Premiership for the Year 8 Blues. One more to go!

Craig Flowers and Peter Collins (Co-Coaches)

Back: Lindsay Marley (Coach), Lewis Thom, Josh Harris-Walker, Digby Marshall, Jethro James, Callum Green, Blair Marley,
Kade Burns, Julian Amara, Riley Downey, Joshua Morisey, Mark Downey (Coach)
Middle: Zane Minotti, Connor Ovens, Jerry Kovac, Thomas Schmidt-Wilkes, Daniel Schmidt, Hamish Thomson, Riley Bourne,
Matthew Logothetis, Samuel Ryan, Darcy Cronin, Patrick Fox
Front: Michael Raphael, Jai Thomas, Keldon Wain
Absent: Ben Tyrrell, Jay Adams-Philip, Meegan Bourne (Team Manager), Paul Ovens (Asst. Coach)

Change is inevitable! With this as the cue the Year 8’s started the year with some player and personnel changes. We were extremely fortunate to have 24 Players return from the 2014 season and even more blessed to have Darcy and Jethro join the Yr8 Doggies with both boys adding huge value to an already very competitive squad.

Training started in late February with a regime of interval running and sprint sessions at Karoonda with the occasional weekend beach runs. Training numbers were good from the outset and with a mantra of “Let’s get better” all signs were strong within the group for a rewarding year.

Picking up on last season’s gameplay style with our slow first-half starts, was, as it seems now, a great test of the resilience of the Team. Being able to perform and remain composed under pressure was a trait that would serve us extremely well later in the season.

Our first eight games saw us collect 6 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss having us sitting 3rd on the ladder. The last eight games of the Home and Away season saw our record extend to 13 wins, 2 losses and the 1 draw. Finishing the year in 3rd position. With Round 11 pitting us against last year’s nemesis, the 2014 Premiers, Applecross. A competitive effort by the boys saw us go down by 33 points. As

I keep emphasising to the Team: you learn more from a loss than you do a win!

Onto the 2015 Premiership Finals. The 1st Semi Final saw us play against a formidable Rossmoyne Team; markedly different from 2014 picking up many Willetton and Rostrata players in the off season). Rossmoyne tested us all the way with a strong breeze certainly favouring one end. Up by 25 points at ¾ time all we had to do was hold out Rossmoyne who were kicking with the aid of the strong breeze. The ability of the boys to hold their resolve was on show, running out winners by 10 points.

The following week, the Preliminary Final, saw us up against the minor Premiers, the Bullcreek Leeming Sharks, who went through the Home and Away season undefeated. Similar conditions from Semi Final week confronted both Teams with a strong wind favouring one end. Kicking into the breeze in the first quarter the boys had their best start of the season and were up by 5 points at the first change. A fairly even tussle in the 2nd Qtr saw us extended the margin by 2 points to be up by 9 at halftime. The wind intensified and after a halftime spray the Sharks came out and held us scoreless in the 3rd whilst piling on 16 points of their own to take the lead by 9 points at ¾ time. Last Qtr – we had the wind and a resolve unmatched during any game during the season and ran over the top of the Sharks with 4 goals to 1 in the 4th Qtr to win the game by 8 points and put us through to a successive Grand Final appearance.

And there we were, back to back Grand Final appearances. Up against our most daunting rival, Applecross; averaging 60 points per game and an average winning margin of 43 points. The Boys steeled themselves for one the biggest defensive pressure game of their short Junior Football careers. Winning the toss Captain Daniel Schmidt went with the aid of the breeze. Our Defense held true holding Applecross to no score. And with limited opportunities up forward we put on 1 goal 2. To be up by 8 at the first change. Applecross hit back and racked up 3 goals 1 for the second quarter to our 2 behinds to see us go into the halftime break 9 points down. The belief in each other was strong and again the Boys recommitted to be relentless in their defence. The 3rd Qtr again saw our defensive stars hold Applecross scoreless and we slotted through 2 Goals 1 behind to be up by four points at ¾ Qtr time.

Last Qtr – all or nothing – against the breeze…this is what the Boys had trained for all season! J. A couple of points to the Doggies and we were up by 6….Applecross goals. Scores were even; 4mins to play! Cometh the hour cometh the man, Julian snapped from the forward pocket and the Doggies were up by 6 points. Hold on for 3 mins! And they did! The sweetest of victories. That’s why we love this game!

Huge “Thank you” to Meegan Bourne our fantastic TEAM MANAGER.  Organising a Team and Coaches and Boundary Umpires and Match Day requirements never easy and can sometime be a thankless task. So we are all truly indebted to Meegan for keeping us on the right path.

To all the parents and “volunteers” Meegan and I THANK YOU….I know we appreciated all of your assistance as I’m sure your boys did. The making of a strong Team and strong club is how much we all chip in and involve the families.

It was a true Team effort. We cannot have a great Club without having parents with great passion volunteer their time and impart their knowledge onto the Boys.

We are all truly indebted to the great Coaching of Lindsay Marley and Paul Ovens and Kingsley Morisey.

Additional thanks to Ian, Heath, Lou and Adrian over the course of the year who helped out with drills and encouragement and support at training and on Game day.

As the game gets quicker and the players get bigger the role of the First Aiders becomes more important. So I would like to sincerely thanks Kate Fox and Marie Schmidt for all of their professionalism and diligence rendering aide over the season. It is always a good sign when they have a quiet day.

Thank you also to Paul Logothetis. Week in week out Paul “ran” the Interchange for the Team. With a full list on Game days and the requirement to manage game time this is a very important roll. Thanks Paul.

Thanks to Fynn Gardner and Samuel Grattidge for playing up; it was great to see the immense talent coming through the Bulldogs ranks.

Congratulations to Daniel Schmidt for a top 5 finish in the District Fairest and Best. Additionally, huge congrats to Daniel and Joshua Harris-Walker (East Fremantle), and to Julian Amara (South Fremantle) for their selections to the respective District WAFL 14’s Development Squad Programs.

A very rewarding year in skill development and game understanding.

Well done to everyone involved.
Mark Downey (Coach)