NFL 2019: St Mary’s to use two-year window to establish itself as Division 2 contender

With two years to establish itself in Division 2 of the Northern Football League, St Mary’s could hardly have timed its maiden senior premiership any better.

St Mary's players celebrate their NFL Division 3 premiership victory over Panton Hill. Picture: Nathan McNeill.

St Mary’s could not have timed its promotion any better.

The Burra will have two years to consolidate themselves in Northern Football League Division 2 after claiming their maiden senior premiership last year.

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The second tier will feature 10 teams from 2020 under a competition restructure and no Division 2 club will be relegated this year.

St Mary’s coach Fabian Carelli said the two-year window would give the club a perfect opportunity to consolidate itself in the higher division.

“It doesn’t really affect me as a coach, because we are still aiming to be competitive and try and push ourselves as high as we can,” Carelli said.

“It’s great for the footy club to know that they can establish themselves in Division 2 anyway.”

Adam Lucci (left) is one of two omissions from St Mary’s senior squad.

In the past five years, Banyule (2018) has been the only Division 3 premier to play finals the season after being promoted.

Watsonia (2017) and Panton Hill (2014) finished sixth, while Thomastown (2015) missed out on a top-four finish by two points.

St Mary’s has pledged to put its faith in the club’s emerging talent, opting not to recruit heavily to prepare for the jump in class.

“We have opted to go in-house with what we believe is a pretty talented group of young kids coming through,” Carelli said.

“Now it allows us to establish them and give them good game time in a higher division to see if our existing group and current crop of players can be competitive at that level.

“It’s really good for us knowing the majority of list is going to be 25 and under and we can establish a good core group within Division 2.”

Leigh Sullivan and Adam Lucci have retired, but the club has otherwise been buoyed by the retention of the bulk of the team which defeated Panton Hill by 13 points in last year’s Division 3 decider.

“I know that our list is young and it’s talented, but how far that talent can extend in the higher division is still an unknown,” Carelli said.

The Burra will play practice matches against Southern league club Mordialloc, VAFA outfit Old Paradians and Division 1 side Lower Plenty before their season opener against Watsonia on April 6.

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