AFL Outer East: Black and yellow recruits help boost Warburton Millgrove’s rising spirit
Despite relegation, there’s a lot to like about Warburton Millgrove says coach Brendon Murphy. And there’s been a handy list of ex-Tigers added to the Burras roster.
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Despite a 2-14 season consigning them to the Division 1 wooden spoon and a drop to Division 2, the noise coming out of Warburton Millgrove is nothing like that of a freshly-relegated club.
Coach Brendon Murphy said the Burras played some encouraging football in 2019 and his young squad is miles ahead of where it had been 12 months ago.
“We had our 2018 state and now I can reflect on our 2019 state,” he said.
“And I’m pleased.
“We just need to keep improving our list of players and keep complimenting the playing group so they can improve.
“I’m really excited for this year.
“We had some very young players exposed to some really good footy. And in patches they played some really good footy.
“It’s just getting some consistency into that list.”
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To help the development of its up-and-comers, Warburton Millgrove has been busy in the off-season recruiting a handy list of experienced personnel.
Certainly there will be something of a Tiger feel about Mac Sparke Oval this season with a number of players who’ve spent time in the black and yellow joining the club.
Trent Elliott, a former Woori Yallock junior who’s spent the past two seasons with Lilydale in the EFNL, will bring plenty of skill, pace and an ability to find the goals while Luke James will return to the club after time at Richmond Central in the VAFA, adding height in key positions.
And the Woori Yallock pair of Joel Coombs and Christian Cameron are also on board, Coombs a Woori Yallock premiership player and interleague rep.
“They are already showing their silk and class (at training),” Murphy said. “They’re great at training and the experience they bring, the young guys are just thriving.”
Above all else, Murphy is thrilled with the improving spirit about the place.
The relationship between the footballers, netballers, committee and supporters is as good as it’s been in years.
It’s a happy place to be at the moment, he reckons.
“The culture of our footy club is really, really great,” he said. “We’ve got great buy-in from our players, we’ve got great buy-in from our committee and we’ve got great buy-in from our supporters.”
Murphy joked that spirits were so high in the Burras nest that there’d been an outbreak of “nesting and hatchlings”.
“Our captain Tim McKail just married Josie Wappett — a big wedding — and one of our former skippers, Liam Barnard, and his partner, Victoria, just had their first baby — a boy to go father/son in 18 years!”
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