VFL 2021 Sandringham Zebras

Sandy will have to rely so much on saints players this year. Their actual squad is very ordinary. Unless the saints have a great non injury year I see us bottom 5. And that’s with a much weaker competition

Very good chance Dunstan will be playing some VFL. He will rip apart other VFL midfields. Bytel and Byrnes , maybe Sinclair will make it a pretty solid unit.
Kent , Lonie or both will be very strong VFL players.
Roberton may or may not play.
Ben Long, Webster, Highmore will surely be getting some games in VFL.
McKernan and Wood make for a stronger than average forward line with Alison as well.
Frawly or Carlsile ? Joyce and Clavarino. Tall backs are not a problem.

Unless Saints have a crazy amount of injury like 2019 Sandy will be massive.
 

SaintJunior

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Sandy will have to rely so much on saints players this year. Their actual squad is very ordinary. Unless the saints have a great non injury year I see us bottom 5. And that’s with a much weaker competition
Spot on Sandys list is very weak.

Will wait until I see other clubs list before having a crack at where we finis but given we had a weak list previously and it has got weaker bottom five might be around the mark.
 
Jan 10, 2011
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Very good chance Dunstan will be playing some VFL. He will rip apart other VFL midfields. Bytel and Byrnes , maybe Sinclair will make it a pretty solid unit.
Kent , Lonie or both will be very strong VFL players.
Roberton may or may not play.
Ben Long, Webster, Highmore will surely be getting some games in VFL.
McKernan and Wood make for a stronger than average forward line with Alison as well.
Frawly or Carlsile ? Joyce and Clavarino. Tall backs are not a problem.

Unless Saints have a crazy amount of injury like 2019 Sandy will be massive.
Unfortunately it never works that way. There are always injuries or players held over. There is also less saints players available this year. The regular sandy players lack much more depth than last year.
 
Sep 27, 2012
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Chris Carey to hold the ruck over Hunter, Alabakis and McKernan. Thoughts AFLOnline
He was signed specifically for that so wouldnt suprise.

I reckon if we sign Hunter it will be to play him in the Marshall role of more fwd than ruck, which would leave Alabakis in an interesting spot.
Unfortunately it never works that way. There are always injuries or players held over. There is also less saints players available this year. The regular sandy players lack much more depth than last year.
Realistically you can assume that we will have 4-5 on the injury list (at this stage Roberton, Crouch (susp), Hanners, Gears, Byrnes) plus 1 held over for a game at any given time which means we will need approx 8 strong vfl listed players.
Ross and Coffield have both played in VFL premierships
Lok, Carey and Dunnell have all proven to be strong VFL players.
Hille looked pretty good 2 years back for Sandy.

That's not too bad. The catch will be if we get a bad run of injuries. Or the games where our AFL team is in WA and our VFL is in QLD, which i imagine would be e several travelling few and far between but would require several travelling emergencies.

But would argue that would effect most aligned teams
 
He was signed specifically for that so wouldnt suprise.

I reckon if we sign Hunter it will be to play him in the Marshall role of more fwd than ruck, which would leave Alabakis in an interesting spot.

Realistically you can assume that we will have 4-5 on the injury list (at this stage Roberton, Crouch (susp), Hanners, Gears, Byrnes) plus 1 held over for a game at any given time which means we will need approx 8 strong vfl listed players.
Ross and Coffield have both played in VFL premierships
Lok, Carey and Dunnell have all proven to be strong VFL players.
Hille looked pretty good 2 years back for Sandy.

That's not too bad. The catch will be if we get a bad run of injuries. Or the games where our AFL team is in WA and our VFL is in QLD, which i imagine would be e several travelling few and far between but would require several travelling emergencies.

But would argue that would effect most aligned teams

If we look at who was rating in the best and fairest last time the Zebras played finals , it was mostly depth Saints. ( a few like Cook, Answorth also very strong ). I think Shenton won it.
Their last season was 2019 and it was horrific, the Saints were calling up players like Langlands, Joyce and McKenzie. I think the Zebras were bringing in extras from suburban clubs.

If we get a huge run of injuries i'd say both clubs are screwed for finals.
 

prophetic1

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Locked in: Sandringham makes 20 signings for 2021
Southern league champion Chris Carey is among the key additions as the Zebras build towards the VFL season under coach Jake Batchelor.

Numbers are getting tight. The squeeze is on at Sandringham.
The Zebras will be running with a list of 30 players for the 2021 VFL season and have made 20 signings, a combination of returnees and recruits.

More than 20 players are fighting it out for the remaining 10 positions.

Coach Jake Batchelor said he had a training squad of 45 and was starting to reduce it.

It’s not the most pleasant task he’s undertaken since taking over from Ben McGlynn.

“We’ve started making cuts, but we’re not doing big chunks at a time,’’ Batchelor said.

“Whenever we feel we’ve seen enough, we do it then.

“Unfortunately it’s a sh*t process that has to happen, because you’ve got 50 players and 30 list spots. We’ve had a really good bunch of blokes who have brought into the program and what we’re trying to build here, and at the end of the day 20 won’t make it and that’s what makes it really hard.

“Having said, you’d rather have that competition.’’

The Zebras locked in key recruits Jackson Ross, Daniel Coffield and Sam Dunell before Christmas, and they’ve signed five more new players in the past fortnight: Kya Austin, Fin Bayne, Cody Henness, Hedley Smith and Vincent Zagari.

Bayne and Henness were on Richmond’s list for the 2020 season that never got going.

Bayne, a slippery small forward, played in the Dandenong Stingrays’ breakthrough premiership in 2018.

“Fin brings plenty of poise and class on the field, as well as laughter off it and we can’t wait to see what he will do in our new-look competition,’’ Zebras recruiting manager Josh Vella said.

Henness, 193cm, came out of Gippsland Power and was with Footscray VFL before linking with the Tigers.

Smith has also played in the VFL: he kicked five goals on debut for Coburg in 2019 after being called up from the Fitzroy Stars.

Austin was on the Sandringham Dragons’ list in 2018 and Zagari graduated from the Oakleigh Chargers in 2019 to join Collingwood’s VFL squad.

Chris Carey, Goy Lok, Luke Dalmau, Daniel Frampton, Jackson Hille, Jack McHale, Tyson Milne, Anthony Seaton, Max Sinclair, Riley Thompson and Riley Virtue had all been signed for 2020 and are back for 2021.

Batchelor said Carey had been outstanding on the training track.

The star ruckman had a stint at Port Melbourne and is having another dash at the VFL after a dominant Southern league season in 2019 with East Malvern. He polled 38 votes to win the Division 1 medal.

“He’s going really well … big, muscly, fit bloke who, a bit like Goy Lok, is a really good leader. He’s a bit older, a bit wiser and understands what’s important,’’ Batchelor said of Carey.

“He’s been really good for the younger guys. He’s a schoolteacher so he knows how to teach and he knows how to coach. Really good get for us.’’

The Zebras have farewelled captain Brede Seccull (Old Haileybury), Kade Answerth (North Melbourne VFL), James Sziller and Michael Manteit (returned to Queensland).

Batchelor said team leaders Seccull and Answerth, both best and fairest winners at the club, were “massive losses, not just as players, but people’’.

He said Sandy would have a well-balanced squad, having added the experience of Dunell, Carey and Coffield to a group of first and second-year players.

Former Williamstown star and St Kilda utility Dunell will serve as a playing assistant.

Its a s**t of a process for the rejects. BUT..........
Thats exactly how they selected the men to go to the moon...'The Right Stuff' is what we need.
 

ScrappyDo

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You know what is kind of a mystery to me...
Jack Bell getting delisted after one year, but we still have Alabakis on the list.
What's a mystery to me, is now that we've got depth in all areas and 2 senior players out for the season, why don't we go and list the best 2 ruck prospects in the country for the sake of securing one/both and initiating his development.
 
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