Coburg Lodges Playing List for 2017

After an extensive preseason, this week saw the club lodge its’ playing list for the 2017 season.

With 37 of the 61 listed players new to the club this year, seven have come directly from Calder Cannons, four are coming over from Northern Knights, and 14 in total played TAC Cup football in 2016.

12 new signings have come from other VFL clubs, one formerly played for Murray Bushrangers, one played for Bendigo Pioneers, and six have joined Coburg after playing interstate.

Four players also come to Piranha Park after playing community football in metro or country leagues.

The final two signings were made in the 2017 preseason, being Angelo Rambaldi, who played 5 games for Collingwood VFL last year, and Jack Sandric, who comes to Coburg having spent 2015 and 2016 on Box Hill’s VFL list.

Darrean Wyatt and Tom Wallis also join the Lions after having been on AFL lists last season, formerly signed to Collingwood and Essendon respectively.

The average height of players is 186cm tall, and the average age is 20 years and nine months.

Patrick Lawlor becomes the most experienced player having played in 58 VFL games, followed by Nathan Blair who will play his 50^th game in round one against Collingwood in two weeks.

GM Seb Spagnuolo is excited for what the 2017 season holds for the club, and has found the off-season recruiting program a success.

“On top of our regular recruiting from the TAC Cup, we’ve also been able to attract some top end talent from within the VFL system already, and from interstate leagues,” Spagnuolo said.

“We aimed to add to the depth of players capable of playing senior football, and we’re happy we’ve been able to achieve that.”

There are many to keep an eye out for this season, whether they came from within the VFL, interstate league football, or community football.

And from the TAC Cup, the likes of Luke Bunker and Jackson McDonald are two that Spagnuolo believes could have a chance to play some senior football in their first years at the club.

“Because of the added depth to the list, there’ll still be some pretty talented players playing weekly in our development league; which is definitely a good problem for the club and coaching group to have.” Spagnuolo said.

“Returning Coburg FC players like Nathan Blair, Josh Iacobaccio, Ben Allan, Liam Hunt and Tom Goodwin will again be out to make massive strides in 2017, and we are looking forward to having Peter McEvoy back as well,” he continued.

Spagnuolo also commends the work of High Performance Manager Derek McConn and his team, along with Senior Coach Peter German and Senior Assistant Coach Paul Kennedy, who have all done a great job getting the team ready during the preseason.

When asked about the list earlier last month, German had similar words to say.

“A lot of players who have been on our list for a few years now are in a good position to have a bigger impact, and are hopefully going to show more leadership as well which is exciting,” German said.

“There’s also our newer-type players who show some really exciting talent, work rate and work ethic; and hopefully they can bring that out on the field match-day.”

The captain and leadership group for 2017, along with all player guernsey numbers will be announced to players, members, sponsors and supporters at our Coburg FC season launch on Saturday April 8^th at Ultima Receptions Keilor.

Tickets are still available for what should be a great night, so call the club now on 9354 8228 to book your seat!