SFNL: Men’s interleague coach Des Ryan breaks down his squad as all three are unveiled

The new faces in the men’s squad of Southern interleague coach Des Ryan have him excited. Find out why, and see all three squads here.

2025 Southern interleague coach Des Ryan. (Photo by Josh Chadwick)

Southern league coach Des Ryan is bullish about the interleague prospects of his men’s side after the extended squad was unveiled.

Port Melbourne Colts’ Charlie Clarke, who has come straight out of the AFL system after he was delisted by the Western Bulldogs in 2024, headlines the strong contingent of inclusions.

“Unreal … it’s pretty exciting stuff,” Ryan said of Clarke’s inclusion, who is joined in the squad by Colts teammates and fellow ex-Bulldogs Robbie McComb.

“I think it’s a better squad (than last year) at this stage, there’s a lot of buy-in from some of the marquee players across the league which is good,” Ryan said.

“Come the day there’ll be injuries and issues that I’m sure will pop up but the general preparedness to be in the squad and support for the program has been good.

Charlie Clarke. (Photo by Sarah Morton/AFL Photos)

“We included everyone who played last year as a starting point but a lot of guys have gone on to be VFL-listed players this year, we’ve got to be mindful it might be hard to get them back but they’re keen to play if they’re available.

“There’s a lot of new faces and young kids in the comp, mainly people from the competition that we’ve known before.

“There are some kids there that will play a lot higher footy than this, it’s exciting to get them at the ground level.”

East Brighton’s pair of ex-AFL recruits Alex Keath and Ben Reid, as well as Cheltenham’s Jack Lonie, are among the notable names who weren’t available for selection.

Ryan was however excited by the return of Dingley’s Chris Horton-Milne after a stint playing Eastern league footy with Noble Park.

“We’re really excited to have him in the squad, he’s just a champion … he’s a really exciting guy to have in the squad,” Ryan said.

Noble Park champions Jackson Sketcher and Kyle Martin are both set to debut for Southern after crossing to Springvale Districts in the off-season.

“Sketcher’s a star, Kyle Martin speaks for himself, these guys are absolute champions so to have them in our squad is a really exciting thing,” Ryan added.

SFNL 2025: Kyle Martin addresses his new teammates at Springvale Districts.

St Paul’s McKinnon coach Andy Scott has been included as the third assistant coach, rounding out a strong coaching panel which also includes Dingley mentor Zach Horsley and Springvale Districts’ Kris Thompson.

“He’ll do the forwards this year, he’s been a great acquisition and had a successful year last year,” Ryan said of Scott, who led St Paul’s McKinnon to the preliminary finals in 2024 and has them off to a 2-0 start to 2025.

Following last year’s thrilling extra-time triumph over Riddell District, Southern will take on the Western league this year on May 17 in a triple-header, which will also include women’s and under-19’s games.

“Western will be a lot tougher competition next year there’s no doubt about that, it’s a pretty strong league, it’s a big league, they’ve been training for a month and they’ll be red-hot opposition,” Ryan said.

“We’ve always been keen to get involved and play the big four teams which are Eastern, Western, Northern footy leagues and the Essendon District, some big competition out there and we’re keen to go up against them.”