Souths Juniors: Signings tracker, pre-season latest ahead of the 2025 season
The Alexandria Rovers will go from the hunters to the hunted after their grand final heroics. But they’re confident they have the right group to avoid a Souths Juniors premiership hangover.
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The Alexandria Rovers come into the 2025 Souths Juniors season as the defending premiers, but there are a host of teams on their tail.
With some returning faces and personnel changes, we take a look at every club before the start of the new season, continuing with the Alexandria Rovers.
ALEXANDRIA ROVERS
Major signings: Michael Lyons (Glebe Dirty Reds)
Major departures: Kareel Phillips (RAB)
If you believe in fairytales, Alexandria’s return to A-grade ticked every box last season as they ended a 34-year premiership drought.
It came in the form of one of the most memorable Souths Juniors grand finals in recent memory.
Now the task is to replicate those heroics and keep themselves in that race once again and avoid the dreaded premiership hangover.
“For me, to avoid the hangover is rewarding the boys for doing good things,” coach Tommy Leal said.
“I’m very happy with the club with what we do on and off the field. We enjoy each others company.
“It’s very important to train hard, but having dinners and catching up socially is the best way to get best performance out of footballers.
“We don’t want our pants pulled down. We know everybody is going to be out to get us. Last year we were able to fly under the radar a bit, now they know what to expect and will be coming for us.”
While there will be a slightly new look to the roster, Leal believes they have the right pieces to be competitive again.
“It’s hard to overcome the loss of the quality of someone like Kareel (Phillips),” he said.
“It’s been massive for us to keep Kieren (Mundine) and Buddy (McKenzie). They’ve had the benefit of a NSW Cup pre-season and they’re in great condition.
“Riley Lord led from the front and was one of our unsung heroes in the front row. Jake Trindall is also back which is huge for us.”
The Rovers have also been able to add some strikepower out wide in the form of former South Eastern and Glebe centre Michael Lyons.
“He’s a big, bulky player who has been training the house down,” Leal said.
COOGEE DOLPHINS
Major signings: Matt Filipo (South West Goannas), Jimmy Stewart (Temora Dragons)
Major departures: Harrison Marsh (Coogee Wombats)
If there were awards for consistency, few clubs would be more deserving than the Coogee Dolphins.
They’ve been in two prelim finals and made the second week of the finals over the past three seasons, which is no mean feat in a tight competition such as Souths.
Getting to that next stage and featuring in a grand final is the next hurdle to overcome, and it’s one the club is confident of doing.
“From a coaching perspective, I didn’t know what I didn’t know,” coach Joel Morris said.
“We took a heap of learning points from last year. I believe we know where we fell short and how to fix that.
“Getting so close, the boys have never been hungrier. They’ve been training that way and hopefully we can make amends this season.”
Part of their confidence stems from the fact they’ve been able to keep the vast majority of the playing group together, as well as bolstering their ranks in other areas.
They’ve looked to introduce some more muscle and size up front and a bit of X-factor out wide.
“Matty Filipo bounced around the Newcastle system for a bit. He’s a big prop who was signed to the NSW Cup team,” Morris said.
“Jimmy Stewart was playing first grade in Temora. He’s a classy centre who is a rally good player.
“It’s an exciting year if we can stay healthy.”
Former NRL premiership winner Roy Asotasi is yet to make a decision on whether he will suit up this season, but his influence around the club will remain a positive.
SOUTH EASTERN SEAGULLS
Major signings: Blaise Barnes (Eastwood Shute Shield)
Major departures: Lewis Radley (retirement), George Burgess (Noosa Pirates)
There were plenty of lessons to be learned from last season that South Eastern are taking on board this time around.
The introduction of capped interchanges is one area they will improve big time with a young, mobile pack set to lead from the front.
Mixing that with the experience of their two leaders in Dean Richards and Fraser Graham has the Seagulls optimistic about the year ahead.
“We had to change the way we do things and suit our game to the interchange rules,” manager Greg Scott said.
“Last year was unfortunate. We had beaten the Dolphins with our previous two outings, but ran out of troops in the backline. We led at one point then found ourselves down by 10 at the break and that killed us.
“It comes down to depth. You need enough players to cover both A and A-Reserve grades.
“We’ll have four or five backing up from our starting A-grade side last year.
“Both Dean and Fraser are Brad O’Hare Medal (club best and fairest) winners and everyone looks up to them.”
John Sutton will again be at the helm of the club after getting a taste of the action last year as mentor, following on from a stint coaching South Sydney’s SG Ball team in 2023.
He’s been joined by Tyrone McCarthy who will have a key role with a number of the senior teams, including a newly formed U21s side.
McCarthy boasts a wealth of experience at the Super League level and previously held a role within South Sydney’s pathways program.
In terms of playing personnel, a number of players are set to return, along with the new addition of Blaise Barnes.
Barnes went viral during his schoolboy rugby days and was touted as the next Roger Tuivasa-Sheck or Kalyn Ponga on the back of his highlight package.
After playing last year with Eastwood in the Shute Shield, he links up with brother Rylan at Malabar.
“Blaise has been playing first grade rugby union in Sydney,” Scott said.
“He’s a Joeys boy who was with Parramatta for a bit.”
COOGEE-RANDWICK WOMBATS
Major signings: Harrison Marsh (Coogee Dolphins)
Major departures: Evan Manning (Young Cherrypickers), Jason Clark (retired)
They were moments away from the fairytale return to A-grade last season, before a late lead and extra-time heartbreak cruelled that dream before their eyes.
Instead of dwelling, the Wombats are using it as motivation to write those wrongs and take the next step in 2025.
“We’re coming together pretty well and have pretty much the same squad as last year,” secretary Geoff Tunks said.
“That’s the fire in the belly for the boys (from last year). To be four or five minutes away from a grand final win, it was very disappointing at the time.
“But when you reflect on it, if you said to us at the start of the year that we would be in a grand final, that would be huge.
“Nobody gave us a chance after not having a team in the comp (in 2023), to then being the first team into the grand final.”
In terms of personnel changes, the Wombats have been able to keep things relatively steady as they look to replicate their success.
“Clarkey is probably finishing up and Evan Manning are the only two players we’ve lost,” he said.
“We have a few others coming into the system and a good bunch of young players who won the U18s comp last year.
“Harrison Marsh has come across from the Dolphins and his dad Anthony will be assistant coach with Jason McKell.”
The Wombats received a great output from their Rabbitohs-aligned players last season, and Tunks said they were pleased to welcome a key quartet back.
“Bear Williams, Sam Taylor, Tavis Felsch and Sam Grazioni were huge for us and three played in the grand final,” he said.
“We wanted those four to come back. They asked the players if they wanted to and they all said yes. It’s a good sign our club is doing right by them.”
LA PEROUSE PANTHERS
Major signings: Jade Anderson (Glebe), Aaron Grech (Mascot), Kayde King (Rabbitohs Jersey Flegg), Harrison Rooke (Moves up from U18s)
After missing last year’s A-grade for the first time in a long time, La Perouse is back where it belongs in the top grade.
The last time the Panthers were seen was in 2023 when they were one game away from a preliminary final.
There’s a quiet confidence they can get back to that level upon return, with a strong roster back to represent the community.
“We’re looking exceptional. We have two main sides this year after getting together an A-reserve at the last second last year,” president Anthony Cook said.
“With Aaron Grech as coach and Rob Longbottom as manager we’re in a strong position. We’ve had about 30-40 at training for the last month and it’s going to lift the community up again.
“Rob has experience with Guildford and he has a connection with the players. Aaron has that too, and it’s great to have him back.
“From a president’s point of view I’m very proud of what we’ve got this year.”
The hill at Yarra Oval will again be filled on Saturday and Sunday arvos, much to the delight of Cook who said the return would have a positive impact throughout the whole club.
“This is going to be fantastic for us. The community of La Perouse is stoked to have an A-grade team again and having a competitive side is going to make it so much better for us,” he said.
“The money generated from the canteen filters through to the juniors. We’re looking at a strong U14s as well.”
In terms of the talent they’ve got on board, they’re putting together a strong team with a mix of higher level players and quality juniors.
Jade Anderson will be one of the best players in the competition. He featured with La Perouse in last year’s Koori Knockout after starring for Glebe in the Ron Massey Cup and earning City representative honours in the process.
Grech is a Maltese international who has been a top-tier dummy half in the competition for a long time.
Kayde King and Harrison Rooke are two young guns that have spent time in the Rabbitohs pathways and add plenty to the forward pack.
Originally published as Souths Juniors: Signings tracker, pre-season latest ahead of the 2025 season
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