EFL 2019: Knox premiership pair Jared Lepore and Joel McGown among the additions at the Falcons
Knox has added some much-needed experience to its group in an attempt to bolster its depth after being relegated for a second time in three years.
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Knox has added some much-needed experience to its group in an attempt to bolster its depth after being relegated for a second time in three years.
Knox has yo-yoed between the Eastern Football League’s top two divisions in recent seasons — relegated in 2016, Division 2 premiers the following season and demoted again last year.
The Falcons will again participate in the second tier this season, but will attack the 2019 campaign with some more mature bodies than the young group that went through last season with a 1-17 record.
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Myrtleford midfielder Tom Kerlin signed at Knox Gardens Reserve last week, while 2017 premiership players Jared Lepore (Ferntree Gully) and Joel McGown (East Burwood) have returned and Lachlan Stanic is back from overseas.
Handy pick up for @knoxfalconsfc with Tom Kerlin joining the club. Has recently played in the strong @omfnl and will slot in nicely into the Falcons midfield.
— Aaron Hurle (@hurler75) February 8, 2019
Ex-Vermont junior Jordan Smith has linked up with Knox after some time away from the game, while the Mazenod quartet of Jaydyn Hill, Jacob Murdoch, Liam Riley and Damian Byrne have also crossed to the Falcons.
“From what we’ve seen so far, we’ll be expecting all those guys to be either playing or pushing really hard to play senior footy,” Knox coach David Madigan said of the group.
Knox will also be hoping to see more of the premiership duo of Ryan Johnson and Jesse Plostins after the pair missed parts of last season through injury.
Declan Forbes and Adam Stein are the only senior departures, joining Division 3 club South Belgrave.
Knox had a swag of players depart ahead of last season, robbing the Falcons of top-end talent and depth to compete against the top-tier’s powerhouse clubs.
A player shortage forced Knox to forfeit its reserves midway through the season before rounding up numbers for the remaining games.
But Madigan said the Falcons’ recruiting had them in a much better position to be competitive in 2019.
“The experienced players coming back are good for us and with Jared, Joel and Lachie Stanic, they’re experienced senior footballers and we were very inexperienced at times last year,” he said.
“Depth-wise we’re looking obviously a lot better than last year when we lost so many players and this year there are a handful moving on for one reason or another but we’ve got plenty back.”
Madigan said the second-tier would be a tighter competition than when his side won the premiership two years ago.
“We’ve come down with East Ringwood so there is two Division 1 teams, Doncaster East has been really strong for years now … Bayswater has had recent Division 1 experience and then there are teams that made good progress last year,” he said.
“Division 2 has traditionally been an even competition and a really challenging one so I don’t think there’s going to be many games where you’re rocking up thinking 100 per cent you are going to win.
“The gaps between the teams are really narrow and the quality of players, every team has got depth and lots of teams have picked up some good players.”
Knox will open its season against Wantirna South at Walker Reserve on April 6.
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