The Coburg Football Club’s Mens list is now locked and loaded for 2023 and is full of exciting young talent sure to catch the eye of the Coburg faithful.
All 44 list spots are now filled as the team looks to close out it’s 2023 preseason campaign on Friday 10th March when the team travels to Casey Fields to take on the reigning VFL Premiers the Casey Demons.
With as many as 60 players out on the track during the 2023 preseason, which started in November, club CEO Sebastian Spagnuolo was full of praise for the work of Coburg’s coaching staff saying “This time of the season is always exciting as we welcome new players to our club and give them an opportunity to join our current players as part of our club’s ongoing journey.”
“Starting with as many as 60 players out on the track can be a difficult task to manage but our coaches, led by our Senior Coach Jamie Cassidy-McNamara have done an excellent job with all players and going from 60 down to 44 contracted players ended up being a very difficult process with many players impressing and staking their claims for a list spot along the way”
He added “The challenge doesn’t end with the task for all 44 contracted players now to do what’s required to be putting their hand up week in, week out for one of the 23 playing opportunities in the VFL season”
Senior Coach Jamie Cassidy-McNamara was also asked about the playing list in 2023 and added his excitement saying “The thing that excites me most about this list is its youthfulness and the attitude and effort the players have brought so far. There is very little ego, and a lot of guys willing to put in the work to prove themselves at the level.”
When asked what Coburg supporters can expect from this playing group, Cassidy-McNamara said “We have done a lot of work on how we organise and connect out on the field, so we should see some improvements in that regard. I think a great thing about the club is how humble and hard working everyone involved is, so I would certainly expect for that to remain.”
About the new faces to the squad that have already made a big impression, Cassidy-McNamara responded “A couple of players who are new to the club, who have performed strongly throughout the pre-season are Max Kennedy and Hugo McGlashan. Max joins us from Collingwood VFL, and will play as a high forward/ mid; while this season is Hugo’s first as a VFL player, and he plays primarily as a midfielder.”
And regarding the returning players that look set to go to new heights in 2023, his response was “Ben Jepson has had a great pre-season, and will step up to be a really strong performer at VFL level this season. Guys like Tom McKenzie and Aaron Clarke have also been fantastic, and will continue to grow and impact for us.”
Supporting the list of 44 contracted players is also a list of 7 developing footballers who are making up our inaugural Rookie List. These 7 players will train within the VFL program once per week to continue their ongoing football development and should there ever be the requirement, may be elevated to the Senior list during the season and then become eligible to play for Coburg.
When breaking down the list, of the 44 contracted players, 24 are returning players from 2022 and 20 players are new to the club in 2023.
Since the loss of a VFL reserves or development league, the relationships with community level teams and leagues are vitally important for our club and in 2023, our players with be aligned with a total of 31 community level clubs across 7 strong metropolitan and country based leagues, with the split being – Bendigo Football League 1, Eastern Football Netball League 4, Essendon District Football League 12, Goulburn Valley Football League 4, Northern Football Netball League 9, Southern Football League 1 and Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA) having 13 Coburg players aligned to it.
Other key stats of the list are:
*Ryan Exon stands alone as the only player with over 100 games of VFL experience (103)
*Skipper Jesse Corigliano (80), Vice Captain Mitch Podhajski (53) and Harry Nolan (54) are the others with over 50 VFL games worth of experience.
*Nathan Boucher (38) and Luke Nelson (35) are both due to play their 50th VFL game in 2023.
*As many as 12 players could make their VFL debuts in 2023 with many of those in line for a potential round 1 debut.
*The average age of the list is 22.3 years which provides a heap of excitement and opportunities
To join our new and returning players, commit to the club and become a club member today, please click here: https://coburgfc.com.au/club/membership/membership-2023/
