VFL 2021 VFL list changes & discussion

[Jen2310]

On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Jen2310]

Didnt even know the VFL had a rookie list lol

 

[jackcass]

Didnt even know the VFL had a rookie list lol

It’s the development list isn’t it?

 

[Jen2310]

It’s the development list isn’t it?

Right. Of course.

 

[Jen2310]

Ive been given some info on him:

He's a mid who can play forward and back. He won a best-afield medal in a VAFA GF at the age of 17

Monders' Max Kennedy five-for - VAFA

It was a Q4 GF comeback for the ages from Hampton until 18yo Ormond star, Max Kennedy, tipped the momentum back in the Monders’ favour with his 5th goal for the day – a deadset BANANA!

www.vafa.com.au

 

[35Daicos]

He was playing in Darwin recently, and seemingly did quite well:



Ex-Magpie Ryan Pendlebury was with the same (NT) club.

 

[Harry O]

From memory Dekka and his son have some links to Ormond footy club

 

[Mike Olotripo]

From memory Dekka and his son have some links to Ormond footy club

Correct, Dekka's sons play there.

 

[partypie]

Not sure if this has been posted elsewhere but for anyone who might want to track VFL stats for our boys I just came across this site which has them all:

VFL Stats

vfl.aflmstats.com

 

[Jen2310]

Third time lucky for Sam Fowler?
Not quiet.

The 22-year-old is at his third VFL club, but fortune is playing no part in his sparkling season for Collingwood.

Put it down to the maturing of a talent first apparent at the Dandenong Stingrays.

Fowler has played every game for the VFL Pies this year and is starting to gain recognition for his pace, his goalkicking and the pressure he applies inside 50.

Last Sunday he kicked two goals against Richmond and had 27 “sprint efforts’’.

In the previous round he booted two against Sandringham and had six tackles.

“Starting to find a little bit of form, which is good,’’ Fowler was saying on Wednesday after finishing a training session with Collingwood’s AFL squad.

“I’m really enjoying what I’m doing. I feel ready to go and ready to give it a good crack.

“I’m rockin’ up in the VFL and trying to challenge myself at that level and I guess prove to myself that I’m good enough to play there.’’


Fowler is juggling his football with a plumbing apprenticeship, and in between playing and training with the Pies he’s hitting the track two nights a week with his local club, Dromana.

Watching Fowler zip around the forward line, it must feel like old times for Collingwood VFL coach Craig Black.

In 2016 Black coached him at the Stingrays, where he came into the program in his top-age season, booted 33 goals, was named in the TAC Cup team of the year and was invited to the state draft combine.

He joined the Northern Blues in 2017, only to finish the season back at Dromana.

It was the same the following year, after he linked with Frankston Dolphins.

Fowler was a dominant player in Dromana’s 2018-19 premierships – the first flag in Division 2, the second in Division 1 – and Black and former Pies VFL GM Mitch Cook sounded him out about joining Collingwood, convinced he was a step above local football.



“It didn’t really work for me at Northern or Frankston,’’ Fowler said.

“Started at Northern, struggled a bit there, didn’t really get many opportunities.

“It was pretty much the same at Frankston.

“I suppose at both of them I never really found my feet or got involved in the system. But I feel like I am now.’’

Given his previous two unfulfilled VFL listings, he had to give some thought to Collingwood’s approach.

The Pies were prepared to work in with his work commitments and he signed on for 2020.

He did the entire pre-season, driving from Rosebud to the Holden Centre twice a week. Collingwood could see he was committed.

Of course, the season never went ahead. When Black was appointed as coach for 2021, he made sure the slippery small forward he calls “Rat’’ would be returning.

“It was definitely a focus of ours to get him back into a VFL program, just because we really rated his football ability and his character,’’ Black said.

“I know he’s got the attributes to play quality VFL football and hopefully AFL footy.

“He’s having an impact on the scoreboard and with his pressure. That pressure he puts on makes players around him better.’’



Fowler is enjoying playing again under Black.

“Obviously because I played some good footy for him at the Stingrays, he’s got some belief in me, a bit of confidence, whereas the other coaches I had probably didn’t know about me,’’ he said.

It had been “refreshing’’ to return to the VFL, Fowler said.

It’s not just Black making some rat-a-tat-tat about “Rat’’.

One senior VFL coach familiar with Fowler said it was clear he was thriving at the Magpies as a “lively, team-based forward’’.

“He doesn’t need to kick goals to have an influence, and that’s what every coach looks for, because your forward line has to function with six or seven blokes,’’ the coach said. “It doesn’t matter who kicks the goals, as long as they’re being kicked. He’s got toe and he’s got plenty of talent.’’


As a third-year apprentice plumber Fowler is specialising in heating and cooling.

He is, then, a hot Pie, in more ways than one.

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