Vermont trio having an impact at the Burgers
While some of Coburg’s best talent attained over the past few seasons have come through the TAC Cup competition, there have also been acquisitions made through local football.
It was July 2014. Coburg, knowing finals were out of the question for their first stand-alone season since 2000, decided to begin its planning for 2015, and that was by beginning its scouting in preparation for its recruitment for the season ahead.
One of the fields scouted was the strong Eastern Football League, one of the higher-ranked competitions in Metropolitan Melbourne. From Vermont, discovered were Lachlan Johns and Rory Lehmann.
Johns’ 2014 season saw him earn selection on a wing in the Eastern Football Leagues team of the year and win Vermont’s best and fairest. Throughout the season, the thought of playing state-league football never crossed his mind, however after chatting to quite a key people, it came clear in his mind that Coburg was the place to further his football. While Johns’ 2015 season saw the first half being hampered by a persistent ankle injury before returning via the Development League, he earnt a much anticipated debut against the Box Hill Hawks. He would go onto play every senior game for the rest of the season. Eligible to play in the finals series in the Development League, Johns was awarded with “Best in Finals” after his two performances. For 2015, he was handed the number seven Guernsey vacated by Daniel Venditti.
“I’ve had a few ups and downs so far while being at Coburg, being injured for a lot of the year last year but the way we finished last year made the thought of this year really exciting. It hasn’t been the ideal start but I’m confident with the group we have and the structures we have put in place we will turn things around,” Johns said.
Lehmann made his senior debut for Vermont in 2013, and it was backed up by a 2014 season which saw him play every senior game whilst still eligible for under 19 Eastern Football League selection. He was regarded by many as the best young key defender in the Eastern Football League competition. As a result, he decided to pursue VFL for 2015, and after promising form in the practice matches, which included opposing Coleman Medallist Brendan Fevola, he earnt round one selection and appeared in 12 of 18 matches, and has stepped up down back this season with Michael Hartley’s departure.
“I loved my time at Vermont but I always wanted to pursue a higher level, I took a leap in joining Coburg, it was a bit of an unknown but have loved every minute of it. The club is definitely on the right track and if we can stick together as a group who knows what level we can reach,” Lehmann said.
During 2015, Kyle Staples was discovered. A former Eastern Ranges player in the TAC Cup, Staples returned to his junior club for 2014 where he established himself down back for the two seasons. Initially a forward in his stint at Bayswater, Staples had an outstanding 2016 season where he managed a place in the 30-man squad for the Eastern Football League team of the year following outstanding displays as the number one key defender for the Eagles. So far in his first season he has managed every senior game- practice matches and official VFL season games, and has been used up forward and down back.
“It’s been awesome coming down to Coburg and I’ve really started to take my footy a lot more seriously, which has been easy to do coming across knowing the Vermont boys as well as a few from Uni” Staples claims.
Vermont President Michael Rennie has been delighted with the progress of the trio since they have made the transition from local to state league football. “I still see the boys around the club, and from what I’ve heard of the three boys since they’ve been at Coburg is that they’ve been going well, and from a Vermont perspective we’re very proud of what they’ve achieved. Lachie was a senior best and fairest and vice-captain of the club, Rory made his senior debut while still in the under 19’s and Kyle managed his junior & senior football with us. While ideally we’d like to keep every player possible at Vermont, we’ve been very supportive of them going to pursue VFL with Coburg, and the same thing goes for anyone at our club that is wanting to further their football at state level.”
While the trio have been a success story in their brief time at Piranha Park, it gives much hope to those from local football wanting to challenge themselves in the Victorian Football League, especially from out in Eastern Melbourne.
