Footscray set for season of regeneration with young guns set to step up

Some of Footscray’s biggest names have moved on but the Bulldogs are confident the club’s next generation are more than ready to take the reins.

Gone are Dean Russ, Daniel Sartori and Jake Reed.

Now is the time of Dylan Brasher, Mitch Jamieson, Ryan Stingel and Max Birthisel.

The 2023-24 Premier Cricket season looms as one of rejuvenation at Footscray.

Experienced stars Travis Dean and Dylan Kight remain to lead the club, while the Bulldogs have also secured NSW and Big Bash spinner Arjun Nair and West Indian Jermaine Levy.

However, the club will look to its batch of young guns to keep it in premiership contention.

“Potentially, going into Round 1, we’ll have five new players,” coach Dale McDonald said.

Max Birthisel in action for Footscray. Picture: George Salpigtidis

“I’m really excited by the youth we’ve got, a lot of those players have been crying out for an opportunity in a sense.

“Obviously, it’s come at a time when we’ve had some retirements so it’s a somewhat changing of the guard.

“You can’t replace the runs and experience of Russy and Sarts and Reedy, there’s some big boots to fill, but there’s a big opportunity for those guys.”

Brasher is a budding star having earned Team of the Year honours with a breakout 614-run campaign last season, rewarded with a Cricket Victoria rookie contract.

Stingel has been in and out of First XI cricket since 2018 but is still only 23 and stepped up late last season with 127 runs in the last three matches.

Birthisel, 20, snared 18 wickets last season and is part of Cricket Victoria’s senior Emerging Performance squad. He will led the club’s attack alongside Team of the Year paceman Umair Butt.

Jamieson, who made his First XI debut last season, is part of the Cricket Victoria Under-19 Emerging Squad.

He is currently working back from an ankle injury suffered in the pre-season, as is paceman Ben Rosenboom.

Ryan Stingel in action for Footscray.

However, when fit, he, along with fellow under-19 talents Josh Pace, Aiman Nadeem and Arjun Sehrawat, will be given more opportunity this season to prove themselves at the top level.

Footscray also had Kyen Burrill-Grinton, Lachlan Hay, Jack Jarvis, Montgomery Maloney and Aayan Nadeem named in the under-17 emerging squads.

James Doherty and Nathan Caulfield finished on top of the Second XI run-scoring charts and Rosenboom and Blake Aggelis were among the leading wicket-takers.

Meanwhile, Levy arrives from Cricket Southern Bayside club Bentleigh.

The paceman has previously represented the West Indies Emerging squad and Jamaica.

He snared 24 wickets for Bentleigh in CSB Championship Division last season, third most on the wicket-taker charts, bagging five wickets against Mentone and Mordialloc.

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“Jermaine played in Southern Bayside last season and I know his manager and he reached out and asked if he can train with us,” McDonald said.

“We’ve gone through a lengthy process to recruit a fast bowler … he’s here on a six-month temporary visa after the government canned the 408 visa.

“He’s just turned 30, 6 foot 5, bowls 130s and because of his height gets good bounce.”

Footscray will tackle Richmond at Merv Hughes Oval in the opening round of the Premier Cricket season.