VFL 2021 Sandringham Zebras

Also have a new senior coach and have signed on a triple VFL premiership coach as senior assistant!

Sandringham Football Club announces Jake Batchelor as Senior Coach and Mark Williams as Senior Assistant Coach for the 2021 season.
Sandringham Football Club is excited to announce Jake Batchelor as our Senior Coach and Mark Williams as Senior Assistant Coach for the 2021 season. Both bring a wealth of AFL and VFL, playing and coaching experience to the roles.

Since finishing his AFL career with Richmond in 2017, Jake has spent time as an assistant coach with Frankston and Sandringham in the VFL and at St Kilda where he has been a development coach since 2018. The 28-year-old is seen as the perfect person for the role and already has a great relationship with the staff and players at Sandy from his time at the Club over the past two years.

Hall of Famer, Mark “Wilbur” Williams, won a premiership with the Zebras as a player in 1992 and then coached the Club to three premiership wins in a row from 2004 to 2006. Since then Mark has had coaching roles with Melbourne and Richmond in the AFL and is a welcome addition to the 2021 coaching panel.

Speaking on his appointment, Jake was thrilled to be working as a Head Coach for the first time.
“I’m very excited. It’s probably come a little bit quicker than what I was expecting, but I’m really excited and I’m looking forward to getting back into it whenever we can,” he said.

“The rules (for next season) will probably be finalised soon and in the coming weeks we’ll find out a bit more, but it’s going to be a really good challenge for not only myself but the other coaching staff and the players to get something done next year.”
With next year’s competition set to be restructured and include teams from the recently disbanded NEAFL, the young coach is ready for a strong level of competition.

“The opportunity to potentially fly interstate is a good chance to get away together and test ourselves against some of the best teams all across Australia, he said.”

“It’s going to be a good challenge and something we’ll look forward to when the time comes.”
Jake is eager to work with Williams again, someone he already has a good relationship with from their time together at Richmond.
“I’m really excited that Wilbur’s decided to jump back on board,” he said.

“He’s a great coach and a great person and he’s going to be able to bring a lot of expertise to the coaching side of things. Basically, he’s going to coach us coaches. So it’s going to be good fun.”
mark-williams002-wfcbdumaidui.JPG

Mark, who says some of his best football moments are at Sandringham, is just as excited to be back coaching at the Club and working alongside Jake.
“I think it’s a wonderful appointment. [Jake] is a very smart, young fella,” he said.
“He got the most out of his own football career in regard to playing and it’s one of his strengths just being able to get the most out of people.”
Speaking on his own new position, Williams said his role is sort of like the coaching group’s “high-performance coach”.
“It’s really all about supporting Jake and his assistant coaches because they’re young coaches and it’s Jake’s first time coaching his own team,” he said.

“They’ll bring plenty of ideas and energy and youthful enthusiasm and it will be my job just to support them and hopefully use my experience to help and support Jake.
“I’m really fortunate to have been offered this opportunity and it fits in really well with the next stage of my coaching, which is performance coaching.”

Due to Government Covid-19 regulations, as well as the restructuring of the VFL, we are unsure at this stage as to when players will be able to begin 2021 preseason training.

We continue to be led by the Victorian Government and the AFL, while player, staff and community welfare remains our absolute main priority.
Written by Matthew Hughes - Sandringham Football Club Media
 
Jun 14, 2015
1,492
11,198
Oslo
AFL Club
St Kilda
A coach with actual coaching experience. 2 quality VFL signings. More then 22 AFL capable players on our list.

Is this the year we are finally competitive against AFL aligned opposition? Fingers crossed.

No idea what 2021 will bring, but keen to get back to going to a few games (and providing random, occasionally inebriated, thoughts for everyone to disagree with). Would be nice to do some write ups that consist of something other then "we got flogged" and "we have little depth." Been a long time since we were properly competitive. Watching King and Clark rip games apart in 2019 was genuinely fun though!

For anyone who has never gone to TBBO, it is a great day. Highly recommend to anyone looking for an afternoon out.

Stewart66 Kilroy George (anyone else interested) - get in touch if you make it down!
 

Stewart66

Premiership Player
Saints Pledge Contributor
Jul 27, 2014
4,215
15,366
AFL Club
St Kilda
A coach with actual coaching experience. 2 quality VFL signings. More then 22 AFL capable players on our list.

Is this the year we are finally competitive against AFL aligned opposition? Fingers crossed.

No idea what 2021 will bring, but keen to get back to going to a few games (and providing random, occasionally inebriated, thoughts for everyone to disagree with). Would be nice to do some write ups that consist of something other then "we got flogged" and "we have little depth." Been a long time since we were properly competitive. Watching King and Clark rip games apart in 2019 was genuinely fun though!

For anyone who has never gone to TBBO, it is a great day. Highly recommend to anyone looking for an afternoon out.

Stewart66 Kilroy George - get in touch if you boys make it down!

Will do.
 

Tommy Wigs

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 10, 2012
6,218
11,851
AFL Club
St Kilda
A coach with actual coaching experience. 2 quality VFL signings. More then 22 AFL capable players on our list.

Is this the year we are finally competitive against AFL aligned opposition? Fingers crossed.

No idea what 2021 will bring, but keen to get back to going to a few games (and providing random, occasionally inebriated, thoughts for everyone to disagree with). Would be nice to do some write ups that consist of something other then "we got flogged" and "we have little depth." Been a long time since we were properly competitive. Watching King and Clark rip games apart in 2019 was genuinely fun though!

For anyone who has never gone to TBBO, it is a great day. Highly recommend to anyone looking for an afternoon out.

Stewart66 Kilroy George (anyone else interested) - get in touch if you make it down!
Really excited about Sandy games next year.
 
I think all Sandy players should be tied to the Saints . But we are the only club to get this because of the crappy zones we have had a lot of the time in our history .


On iPad using BigFooty.com mobile app
 
I think all Sandy players should be tied to the Saints . But we are the only club to get this because of the crappy zones we have had a lot of the time in our history .


On iPad using BigFooty.com mobile app
it is my belief that since we are helping Sandy we should have first access to their players. Just like if Carlton or Collingwood develop players in the 2s they also should have 1st access to them. however it probably would be rorted .
 
I hope the VFL is a bit more accessible in terms of coverage this year. I understand that might be wishful thinking considering the year we've just had!
Sandy showing some positive signs already which is great. Recent history suggests a strong AFL side and a strong VFL side go hand-in-hand so that's something to be optimistic about.
 
I thought they might have had another from the VFL.
Apparently Alabakis played a handful of games for Frankston during 2019.

This is the only result i could find.

Billy Longer again showed his ascendancy in the ruck contests over fellow Saint Sam Alabakis with 52 hit-outs, giving the likes of Dunstan and Armitage
first use.

Someone commented that Alabakis had 1 handball and 18 hitouts in one of his 3 games. But he's had a full year training since then, with Paddy, Abbott and Marshall, so he might be a bit better now.

sam-alabakis-of-frankston-spoils-billy-longer-of-sandringham-during-picture-id1147059734
 
I hope the VFL is a bit more accessible in terms of coverage this year. I understand that might be wishful thinking considering the year we've just had!
Sandy showing some positive signs already which is great. Recent history suggests a strong AFL side and a strong VFL side go hand-in-hand so that's something to be optimistic about.


yes , it would be great if sandy had more tv time
 

Don't really know how I feel about this. I like rule changes that don't have the ability to negatively impact the fabric of the game and feel this is one of them.
 

Don't really know how I feel about this. I like rule changes that don't have the ability to negatively impact the fabric of the game and feel this is one of them.
They just can’t stop ******* with the game...
 

Stewart66

Premiership Player
Saints Pledge Contributor
Jul 27, 2014
4,215
15,366
AFL Club
St Kilda
They just can’t stop ******* with the game...

Nomination of ruck rule should have been eliminated....simple two players from same team free kick.

Nightmare for umpiring complicating the game further , throw the ball up all the time , eliminating wasted
time .

One simple rule would help significantly kick the ball backwards it’s play on.

Looking forward to ridiculous amount of 50 metre penalties for 1st month of season.

Then anger from public, then the usual adjustment.
 
Nomination of ruck rule should have been eliminated....simple two players from same team free kick.

Nightmare for umpiring complicating the game further , throw the ball up all the time , eliminating wasted
time .

One simple rule would help significantly kick the ball backwards it’s play on.

Looking forward to ridiculous amount of 50 metre penalties for 1st month of season.

Then anger from public, then the usual adjustment.

+1
 

Don't really know how I feel about this. I like rule changes that don't have the ability to negatively impact the fabric of the game and feel this is one of them.

I hate it already , why do they have to keep messing around with rules . Pretty soon it will be like netball , players can only go to sections of the ground . It’s a stupid decision which I can’t imagine many supporters want to see happen .


On iPad using BigFooty.com mobile app
 

Don't really know how I feel about this. I like rule changes that don't have the ability to negatively impact the fabric of the game and feel this is one of them.

I hated it in junior footy when they had it in under 9s. It seems like a dumb idea that makes the game more complex.
 
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