EFL 2019: Templestowe coach Craig De Corsey optimistic about Dockers’ Division 2 prospects

Templestowe expects to mix it with the top sides in Eastern Football League Division 2 this year, with the Dockers still in talks with some potential significant signings.

Templestowe coach Craig De Corsey calls the shots. Picture: Davis Harrigan

Templestowe expects to mix it with the top sides in Eastern Football League Division 2 this year as it looks to make up ground on the competition frontrunners.

The Dockers remain in talks with some potentially significant signings as they look to build on last year’s 11-7 record.

Templestowe finished mid-table in 2018 but won eight of its last 10 games, unearthing some promising under-19s players that look set to play important roles this season.

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Luke Fitzsimons, Mark Pallozzi and Lachlan Carter were among the young group initiated into the senior ranks last season, leaving coach Craig De Corsey optimistic about the club’s 2019 outlook.

“I think they are three or four genuine senior players for us straight away, which is always good to keep developing our own,” De Corsey said.

“I think we ended up playing nine under-19s players and some of them played six or seven games in the end.

“We’ve got high hopes for those young boys and I think they’re definitely senior players, so that is really important.”

Of the additions, Chris Davies has returned to Templestowe after stints at Forest Hill and EDFL club Jacana, while young forward Sam De Soysa has crossed from Balwyn.

But De Corsey expected Davies would play a mix of seniors and reserves, and De Soysa is returning from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.

Two teams were demoted from Division 1 last year to form the new eight-team Division 2 competition.

Mark Ferraro was one of several young Dockers to step up to senior football last year. Picture: Stuart Milligan

De Corsey said he hoped the momentum from the second half of last year could flow into the start of this year’s campaign.

“In saying that, we start at the bottom, the way the division is structured, so we’ve got a fair bit of ground to make up, we know that,” he said.

“At the same time, if we can get a little bit of footy out of these inclusions, I would be pretty confident we’ll be very competitive this year.

“I wouldn’t say we’d be a bottom side, I’d say we’d be very competitive with the top four or five, only based on last year that we were competitive with them anyway at the back end of the year.

“If we can improve our list, surely that tells us we should be relatively competitive.”

De Corsey hinted there could be some announcements in the coming weeks.

“We’re still speaking to a few guys and we’ll see what happens. It could be a matter of getting a few and it could be a matter of getting no one,” he said.

“We’re pretty confident we’ll land a few decent recruits.”

Templestowe opens its season against Ringwood at Jubilee Park on April 6.

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