VAFA: Club-by-club Premier Men’s previews

Old Brighton fell at the final hurdle in last year’s VAFA grand final. Bolstered by some huge ins and a growing hunger, the Tonners are ready to give 2025 another shake. Go inside their pre-season.

OId Brighton’s Tom Fisher during last year’s grand final. Picture: Valeriu Campan

The VAFA Premier men’s season is getting closer and we’re taking a look at every club.

See our rolling coverage of every club.

OLD BRIGHTON

Some might want redemption, Old Brighton sees it as an opportunity to improve.

The Tonners were beaten in last season’s VAFA Premier grand final by Old Scotch to be denied a maiden top flight premiership.

Instead of looking for excuses, coach Marcel Bruin and his coaching staff have been looking to adapt the game plan to go one step better.

It is only year two under club great Bruin and he believes there is lots of room for improvement within his group.

“We’re not going out saying it’s a redemption year,” Bruin said.

“We’re focusing on improving on what we did last year. We played some really good footy at different stages throughout 2024 and gave ourselves the opportunity on the day.

The Tonners off-season has seen some changes to the line-up with gun midfielder and last year’s leading goalkicker Nick Pavlou moving interstate.

Others including Sam Flockart and Jonah Campigli have earned VFL opportunities with the Tonners having 10 players in total on state league lists.

Several players have also returned from stints in the state league including Felix Flockhart, Darcy Gilbert, Luca Macnab and have committed to a return to Ammos level for the entire season.

Bruin’s side has also landed Archi Manton who will spend most of his year with Port Melbourne.

“We remain relatively healthy to this stage,” Bruin said.

“We’ll see our VFL guys periodically throughout the year and we’ll bring them into our plans as necessary.

“We’ve got 19s coming through as well as some guys who missed some footy last year.”

Despite many tipping the Tonners as the pre-season premiership favourite, Bruin is cautious about buying into the hype.

He understands just how even the competition is with rival clubs having made impressive signings of their own.

“It’s a really even competition, one through 10,” Bruin said.

“Every week is going to be a toss of the coin.”

OLD SCOTCH

Old Scotch coach Mark Gnatt sees a difference in his playing group between this season and last.

And it’s an ominous warning for the Cardinals after ended a 46-year premiership drought when they beat Old Brighton in the Premier men’s decider last season.

“We look fitter and quicker,” Gnatt declared.

The off-season has been a shorter one for Gnatt’s men, obviously helped by premiership celebrations.

But there’s added motivation for this group, in particular who those were forced to miss out on the club’s history making day.

Angus Jones missed a large portion of last season is back in the mix with Hamish Wild and Jack McCorkell also back.

Star Aidan Franetic missed last year’s grand final while

Perhaps one challenge for the Cardinals coaching staff will come if a stack of their VFL players are available.

They have 15 across the state league competition – the most of any VAFA club.

Those include ex-North Melbourne forward Tyler Sellars, now with Essendon VFL.

Ryan Valentine, who booted four goals in last season’s grand final, made his debut for the Roos on the weekend.

“We don’t expect to see some of those guys given how often we think they’ll play VFL,” Gnatt said.

“But if there is a chance we they do come back, it’s going to be exciting for the club and we’ll have some decisions to make.

“It’s really exciting for us to have so many guys wanting to test themselves at the highest level possible.”

Old Scotch players celebrate their premiership victory. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Gnatt is a proud VAFA person and will do anything he can to help promote the competition.

“This competition is super even and we’re going to need to be at our best every week to win games again,” he said.

“Our first four or five weeks are going to give us a good indication of just where we sit.

“There’s no better way to learn than playing the top sides early on.”

Sam Woods, who claimed the under-19s division 2 best and fairest at Old Camberwell last season is one of the new faces.

Jake Torney, a young forward from Kyabram, is another new face.

“The young guys bring a lot of energy and it gets a few of the fossils going,” Gnatt said.

The Cardinals open their season against St Kevin’s where they will unfurl the premiership flag.