Montmorency’s new coach, Jono Manzoney, discusses the club recruiting
Montmorency will have two main pillars in its push to break a lengthy premiership drought. New coach Jono Manzoney gives an insight into the club’s plans.
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New Montmorency coach Jono Manzoney will have one of the best one-two ruck combinations in local footy at his disposal this season.
The Magpies will combine club best-and-fairest Liam Wale-Buxton with new recruit Jake Spencer in the centre square, while reigning league leading goalkicker Patrick Fitzgerald will suit up again.
Co-captain Stef Uzelac is eyeing off a mid-season return from a knee reconstruction, while VFL-listed tall Jaden Collins has crossed from Eltham.
Delisted Collingwood swingman Liam McMahon will remain in black and white, signing at Para Road, while also listed at Carlton VFL.
Montmorency’s depth of tall timber has Manzoney busy making plans for the club’s NFL Division 1 premiership assault.
“I’m not sure what the answer to that is yet,” he said.
“It’s good to have some talks for sure, it will be good to have dual ruckmen and a full forward that played such good footy last year.
“The flip of that is we’ve lost Jesse Donaldson and Connor, so we’ve lost a lot of experience.
“For all the height we’ve got, if we take a couple of older players out our average comes down to about 22, so we’re young too.
“The taller fellas (Wale-Buxton, Spencer and Fitzgerald) have been outstanding so far with their leadership and feedback they’ve been giving. They’ve been awesome.”
Montmorency will combine its height with the vigour of youth.
The Magpies have lost several key players from their preliminary final team of last year but boast arguably the best junior network in the competition.
Jesse Donaldson, Lin Jong, Steve McCallum and Connor Dalgleish are among the major departures.
Manzoney said the club was committed to “looking after their own”.
“There’s no doubt the junior program they run down at Monty – and coming into the 19s – is really strong,” he said.
“We’ve got to put some time into those kids, to help them develop into the best footballers they can be, and hopefully many of them will go onto play senior football for the club.
“That was a real focus for us before Christmas and this first part (of pre-season) is working with those young players to take the next step.”
Along with Spencer, Collins and McMahon, Lower Plenty pair Corey Sleep and Ben Paterson have moved next door at Para Road.
“Both have slotted in really well, great people as well, which is something we were looking to great,” Manzoney said.
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“They’ve been outstanding, great communicators, and they’ve slotted into the group really well, getting around like they’ve been there for a long period of time.”
Manzoney said youngster Jackson Jones had been one of the most impressive performers in pre-season as he looks to build on his 11 senior games in 2022.
Montmorency’s under-19s have won two of the past three Under-19s Division 1 premierships and came from fifth last season to claim the title.
Brock Binion (10 senior games) was awarded the best-on-ground medal and, along with the likes of Zac McCormack and Jarred Seiter, will look to establish themselves as regular senior players.
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