Adelaide Footy League divisions three to seven previews for 2019 season
There will be ex-AFL talent, clubs with lofty ambitions and others just hoping for a win this year. Check out Messenger’s Adelaide Footy League season previews for divisions three to seven.
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The Adelaide Footy League’s 67 clubs and more than 160 teams will kick off their seasons this Saturday and Messenger Community News football writer Patrick Keam has run the rule over every division.
Here are the division three to seven previews for 2019:
STAY TUNED THIS WEEK FOR PREVIEWS OF EVERY CLUB
THURSDAY: Division two
FRIDAY: Division one
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DIVISION THREE
Glenunga’s ambitious plan to rapidly rise through the Adelaide Footy League tiers will hit its toughest test yet when it enters division three this season.
The Rams have won back-to-back flags in their ascension from division five to division three in just two years and will face the challenge under a new coach.
Norwood premiership player and Jack Oatey Medallist John Cunningham takes over from two-time premiership mentor Brian Leys.
Leys and Glenunga parted ways just weeks after defeating Gepps Cross in the division four grand final.
Cunningham said the Rams had a clear plan for the future.
“Definitely the club has an agenda to get as high up the amateur league divisions as possible,” Cunningham said.
“I’m excited about the group that I’ve got a hold of and certainly looking forward to assisting the pathway up in to div three and hopefully beyond that.
“It’s obviously a talented group and looking forward to improving them further.
“We’ve added a few recruits so I think the team is well-placed to perform well in div three.”
The Rams have brought in Sam Wundke from North Adelaide to join brothers Nick and James at Webb Oval.
Division one flag winner Tom Bielby (Tea Tree Gully) arrives, along with Luke Bowman (Orroroo), son of 1997 Norwood premiership player Lachlan Bowman.
Last year’s captain Sam Abell (Henley) and fellow premiership player Guy Ward (NSW) are the major outs.
Gepps Cross also moves up to division three and returns after just one year in the fourth tier.
Rams coach Adam Vitler said the former top-flight club would continue to promote youth and local talent.
“We had a couple of pretty lean years there for a while, so it was good to turn it around especially in the back half of last year and get a winning feeling back around the place,” Vitler said.
“The oldest guy in our A grade at the moment is 27.
“We’ve got a heap of kids, local talent, who we’re looking to continue to develop.
“You want to always play in the highest division possible but we’re aware div three is going to be a massive challenge for us.”
The Rams have recruited key forward Nathanial Schmerl (West Augusta) and Tom Camp returns to the club after a year off due to work.
Vitler said Matt Schmidt (Jervois) was the main departure, along with some fringe and depth players.
He identified Joseph Tahana as one emerging youngster who could take the next step.
Local rivals Portland and North Haven will once again battle in division three.
The Thunder signed one of the biggest local football recruits in October – former North Melbourne and Port Adelaide goalsneak Lindsay Thomas.
North Haven, which finished second on the ladder last season before crashing out to Scotch Old Collegians in the preliminary final, will be lookingto be contenders again.
Old Ignatians and Golden Grove drop down from division two and will fancy their chances of at least a finals berth.
The Kookaburras have added dashing Central District half-back Luke Barmby and former Woodville-West Torrens player Duane Schultz, who returns after a season with Mount Compass, but lost star midfielder John Boxer (Queensland).
Flinders Park has been a consistent presence in the division three finals the past three seasons and would be expecting yet another top five berth.
The Reds won an elimination final last year and always boast plenty of depth.
Westminster Old Scholars began last season strongly but faded late and would hope to improve on its fifth place finish.
As would Plympton and Morphettville Park, which both missed the finals in sixth and seventh spots in 2018.
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DIVISION FOUR
Edwardstown wants to christen its new clubrooms with a division four premiership for the club’s 100-year celebrations this season.
A swag of recruits have landed at Edwardstown Oval in the off-season with an $8 million redevelopment of the ground complete.
Coach Justin Calderbank said the Towns were making no secret of their flag desires after a preliminary final exit in 2018.
“It’s a huge year for our footy club, there’s no doubt about that,” Calderbank said.
“The club desperately wants to get out of division four and hopefully this is the year we can push towards that.
“Last year we got close and had a taste of it.
“We were four goals off Glenunga, who went on to win it, so that gives us some confidence as well.
“Last year it was a lot about development but now I’m throwing some expectation on the group.
“We went out and recruited, mostly guys who are Edwardstown juniors, back to the club to achieve that (promotion).”
Josh Holliday (West Adelaide) Darcy Munn, Sean Munn (both Kybybolite), Simon Dean, Tain Smelt (Happy Valley), Jesse Salt (Kaniva) have all joined the Towns.
Centre-half forward George Cornish also returns to the club.
CBC Old Collegians is another club with lofty ambitions ahead of the division four season after gaining promotion by winning the fifth-tier flag last season.
Dolphins coach Cail Harris said he was “unabashed” in what the club was trying to achieve.
“We want to be a division one, division two club, like most of the other old scholars sides,” Harris said.
“We’re not content with just staying in division four or five.
“We’ve made an effort the last few years to recruit old scholars back to the club.
“Last year’s group was a pretty young one, so we’ve brought in a few older heads that we’ll probably need stepping up to division four.”
Ex-Gaza captain and premiership player Matt Downie and former Fremantle rookie Benet Copping (St Peter’s Old Collegians) headline the Dolphins’ recruits.
Fallen powerhouse clubs Walkerville and Kilburn will be looking to bounce back.
The Cats were relegated from division three.
Colonel Light Gardens started 2018 strong but lost 11-straight games to end the season and finish seventh.
The Lions should be hungry to return to the finals.
Nearby Mitcham also just missed the five but would be boosted by the return of former player Ben Geytenbeek (Freeling) among several other recruits.
Pooraka will smarting from a straight sets finals departure last year, while Pembroke Old Scholars appears to have retained the majority of its squad demoted from division three.
DIVISION FIVE
Hope Valley has emerged from the off-season full of confidence and as a premiership contender in division five.
The Demons have generated plenty of talk over summer following the acquisition of player/coach Mitch Sandery and a swag of new or returning recruits.
Sandery, a Knuckey Cup best and fairest winner at South Adelaide, last featured in the Adelaide Footy League in 2016 and guided Tea Tree Gully to a division two premiership and a division one grand final.
“I didn’t want to start bringing in a heap of guys,” said Sandery, who came to Hope Valley after two seasons playing for RSMU in the North Eastern Football League.
“But this year is the first year of football where I haven’t had go out and recruit – everyone has come to us asking to play.
“We have got guys who have played at the club before or were juniors, plus a few old heads to help the young group.”
Sandery said he had stripped it back to the basics in training but hoped the Demons would play finals.
Brothers Adam and Luke Williams (Freeling), Hope Valley juniors Josh Schilling and Luke Bollymer (Tea Tree Gully), and former Demons best and fairest winners Jake Hellmans and Jamie Dowling have joined the club.
Kenilworth will be looking to build on last year’s strong campaign.
The Kookaburras have secured one of the division’s best recruits in former Glenelg ruckman Neil Vea Vea, who played seven league and seven reserves games for the Bays last season.
Kenilworth finished fourth on the ladder last year with a 12-6 record before crashing out in the elimination final to eventual grand finalists Woodville South.
The Kookaburras will begin with a home fixture against promoted side Trinity Old Scholars at the newly-redeveloped St Mary’s Oval.
Trinity stunned Rosewater in the division six grand final last season to gain promotion and would be hoping its time in the sixth tier would be longer than the last – a one-year stint in 2014.
Northern clubs Eastern Park and Salisbury should be forces to be reckoned with after dropping down a tier.
As will Smithfield, which has recruited heavily in the off-season, and last season’s finals sides Lockleys and Pulteney.
Blackfriars Old Scholars will have its first player/coach in club history – Jarrad O’Riley.
O’Riley landed the role last month after the Hounds’ initial off-season coaching appointment, Rickie Kelly, accepted a position with West Adelaide.
DIVISION SIX
Marion and O’Sullivan Beach/Lonsdale were the stories of the season in division seven after stunning runs to the grand final in just their first year in the Adelaide Footy League.
Promotion will ensure more rigorous tests in 2019 as they travel to take on tougher opponents in a north and northeast-heavy division.
The Lions, who won 17 of their 18 home-and-away games last season before falling to the Rams in the division seven grand final, will be guided by new coach Ben Hardy.
Former South Adelaide youngster Robert Irra has returned to the club he played juniors to headline the off-season moves.
Ingle Farm and Hectorville were relegated from division five after tough seasons last year.
West Croydon was rated as a flag contender in 2018 but points deductions for tribunal indiscretions meant it finished fourth on the ladder, before losing to Fitzroy in the elimination final.
Expect the Hawks to bounce back.
Fitzroy finished the season strong and found itself in the preliminary final – which it lost to Trinity Old Scholars – thanks to Salisbury West’s removal from the competition.
Northern sides Elizabeth, Para Hills and Brahma Lodge round out the division and all are expected to be gunning for finals.
DIVISION SEVEN
An eight-team competition in division seven this year means a small margin between success and failure for the Adelaide Footy League’s bottom A-grade tier.
Perennial battlers Flinders University and Mitchell Park will be desperately hoping to move off the foot of the ladder after finishing last and ninth in 2018.
The Crabs did not win a game last season.
Greenacres and Adelaide Lutheran come down from division six.
Lutheran matched the feat of Flinders by going 0-18 last year.
St Paul’s Old Scholars’ bid to climb above division seven for the first time appears as strong as its ever been and it will go into the season with high expectations.
The club will face competition from rivals Mawson Lakes and lower division mainstays Houghton Districts and Central United.
patrick.keam@news.com.au
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