Messenger Shield: College footy captains chat about school pride and the want to win ahead of the 2019 First XVIII campaign
College footy kicks off this weekend with the start of the Messenger Shield First XVIII competition. We have spoken to captains and coaches from each of the 10 division one schools to see how they are shaping up for the season.
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Greatest first XVIIs: Rostrevor | Sacred Heart | Prince Alfred | St Peter’s | Brighton | Henley | Immanuel | St Michael’s
College pride is set to heat up with the start of the Messenger Shield First XVIII boys’ competition on Saturday.
Messenger Community News has spoken to captains and coaches from each of the 10 division one schools – Immanuel, Pembroke, Prince Alfred, Rostrevor, Sacred Heart, Scotch, St Michael’s, St Peter’s, Trinity and Westminster – in the lead-up to the opening round to get their throughts on the season ahead.
IMMANUEL
Captain: Sam Wormald
Coach: Troy Clements
State under-18 squad: Jordan Moore
Round one: Pembroke (away)
Wormald: “It means a fair bit to be able to lead the school football team. It means I’m a little bit respected and I have to step up my game and lead by example. All I can ask from the boys is for them to give it their best shot, give it a crack and give 110 per cent all the time. We’ve got to never give up, no matter what the scoreboard says. We are fit, so we have to get our skills going well and play as a team with no selfishness.”
Clements: “We had a good pre-season, we had some sessions before Christmas and then got back into it in week two of term one, so we have a fair amount of training under our belt.”
PEMBROKE
Captain: Tully Kennett
Coach: Ray Billing
State under-18 squad: Nil
Round one: Immanuel (home)
Kennett: “We’ve been put up to division one so we are looking forward to the challenge. We are looking pretty strong, so we have high hopes. As I always say – a champion team always beats a team of champion, so that’s the way we want to play this year. I reckon Sacred Heart and Rostrevor will be strong.”
PRINCE ALFRED (2018 Messenger Shield winner)
Captain: Karl Finlay
Coach: Marty McKinnon
State under-18 squad: Karl Finlay, Kysaiah Pickett
Round one: Sacred Heart (home)
Finlay: “I’m pretty proud to lead the school. We are pretty confident of going back-to-back. We’ve had a really good pre-season. I reckon (nephew of Port Adelaide Norm Smith Medallist Byron Pickett) Kysaiah Pickett and Isaiah Dudley will be strong for us this year. Winning the Shield last year was good and we had a good bunch. We had a lot more Year 12s in the side last year than we do this year, so we will be relying on the Year 11s this year, but we should be all right. Sacred Heart will be tough to beat and Rostrevor.”
McKinnon: “We’ll have a younger team, which is exciting and presents an interesting challenge. I’m not sure about how it will go but we’ll obviously be ambitious and aim to have similar success to the past couple of years. We want to be a difficult opponent for everyone to face and I expect Rostrevor and Sacred Heart to be strong again
ROSTREVOR
Captain: Stefan Lanzoni
Coach: Ron Fuller
State under-18 squad: Anzac Lochowiak, Cameron Taheny
Round one: St Michael’s (away)
Lanzoni: “We had a very good side with a bit of talent last year with a few state boys and three AFL draftees (Luke Valente, Jacob Kennerley, Ben Jarvis). This year we aren’t as strong with our top end as last year but we are looking very consistent across the board. You always lose players in school footy with Year 12s leaving but we are very good with our bottom end this year. Sacred Heart is always pretty strong and PAC is an awesome school and has been for many years and Saints (St Peter’s) are also really strong.”
Fuller: “We’ve got a number of new faces, some year 10 lads pushing up and some that didn’t commit to the program last year but are this year, which is good to see. I think we’ve got a really even group. Hopefully there will be a few that will jump up and grab the opportunity.”
SACRED HEART
Captain: Beau McRae
Coach: Jon Symonds
State under-18 squad: Will Day, Zac Dumesny
Round one: Prince Alfred (away)
McRae: “The boys are taking it (being hunted) in their stride and we are pretty confident with the team we have. We’ve got a few guys who will stand up this year – Will Day across half-back will be crucial for us and Zac Dumesny up forward who will hopefully kick a few goals. The rich tradition at Sacred Heart is unreal so I can’t wait to get out there and represent the school.”
Symonds: “We certainly feel like we’ll have a pretty competitive outfit but it’s difficult to know as we have played any games in anger yet. I think we’ll be at about an equal level to last year or maybe slightly better. We have 13 or 14 players returning from last year, so we’ve got a pretty strong core group.”
SCOTCH
Captain: Angus Kitto
Coach: Nathan Eagleton
State under-18 squad: Nil
Round one: Trinity (away)
Kitto: “We are celebrating 100 years of the school this year so it’s an honour to captain and to be picked by the boys as well. We’ve got a good squad and just a good depth all around so it should be a good year. Hopefully we can play well against the big schools like PAC and Saints. PAC is stacked with talent, so they will be hard to beat. Winning the Shield would massive for the boys and for the school, especially in its 100-year anniversary. We play our intercol against Pembroke, so every time we play against them there’s always a big crowd and it would be great to get a win against them.”
Eagleton: “Last year we probably had 16 Year 12s in the squad, now we’re up to 25, 26. We’ve got a few more stronger bodies around the contest. Our height is probably down a little bit but if the skill level and execution is there, I’m sure we’ll challenge and play some good footy throughout the year.”
ST MICHAEL’S
Coach: Ben Mesisca
State under-18 squad: Nil
Round one: Rostrevor (home)
Mesisca: “In the back end of last year we played some really good footy. The biggest thing for us is playing a quality young squad to be competitive with other colleges. We played a lot of Year 10s and we copped some punishment, but the upside is those kids have had a year of First XVIII footy, they’ve had a pre-season and gone to their SANFL clubs and now they’re 10-15 per cent better off because of that. Those guys have a lot more confidence now going forward.”
ST PETER’S
Captain: Will Warrick
Coach: Sam Elliot
State under-18 squad: Nil
Round one: Westminster (home)
Warrick: “The boys are really committed and dedicated, they sort of play for our crest and our emblem. We really want to represent the school with pride so it would mean a lot to everyone, right from the juniors all the way up to the seniors, if we won. We are really looking forward to it. We have a really strong program at St Peter’s.”
TRINITY
Captain: Alistair Walling
Coach: Scott Charlton
State under-18 squad: Nil
Round one: Scotch (home)
Charlton: “We were pretty lucky the last couple of years to have a lot of talent at younger year levels, which means this year there’s a lot of Year 12s. We’re probably on par to where our talent was last year – maybe a little bit more high-end talent but we probably drop away a little bit quicker than last year. We dream of being successful but we’re also pretty realistic that we’re probably the 10th-ranked team, so our hope is that we’re going to be competitive in most games. If we can win a quarter a game, for example, and put three or four quarters together and come away with five wins, we’d be really happy with that season. We want the boys to just go out, play as hard as they can and see where we end up at the end of the game.”
WESTMINSTER
Captain: Harvey Bock
Coach: Ian Cox
State under-18 squad: Nil
Round one: St Peter’s (away)
Cox: “Playing against the bigger schools will be a really good thing this year. It’s going to challenge them and we’ll have times we’ll be competitive but there’ll be other times the big sides might blow us away for periods. But we’re looking forward to it. They’re a really good bunch of lads to coach – they’re so coachable and have got great camaraderie. They enjoy their footy, enjoy their company and want to improve. We don’t have huge depth. Probably one of the best players in the whole competition, (Year 11) Kaine Baldwin, is not going to be playing with us this year because he did his ACL playing for Glenelg three or four weeks ago. It’s shattering for Kaine and takes a lot away from us as well. But it gives some of the other boys an opportunity.”
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