New faces add expertise to GFL squad
FIRST-YEAR Geelong Football League interleague coach Clinton Wells says his 42-man squad announced overnight “can’t rest on our laurels”.
The GFL is striving to hold the No.1 ranking for the sixth consecutive year when it takes on Eastern Football League at Etihad Stadium.
The squad boasts eight players with prior AFL experience, with Colac gun Joffy Simpkin (Sydney, Geelong, Hawthorn and Essendon), Lara coach Tony Armstrong (Adelaide, Sydney and Collingwood), Leopold duo Tom Ruggles (Geelong) and Billie Smedts (Geelong and Carlton), South Barwon’s Louis Herbert (Gold Coast), new North Shore coach Sam Darley (GWS and Western Bulldogs), St Mary’s forward Tom Gillies (Geelong and Melbourne) and Grovedale swingman Cam Delaney (North Melbourne and Geelong) headlining the squad.
Wells said most of the elite talent in the competition were quick to take the opportunity to play on Etihad Stadium on May 19 as a curtain-raiser to the St Kilda-Collingwood clash.
“Most jumped at the opportunity to give back to the league,” Wells said.
“We’re really excited to have them and they obviously add a fair bit to the group.”
Twelve players remain from last year’s victory over the Mornington Peninsula Foot- ball League at the MCG, however Bell Park spearhead Jarrod Garth, Carlton development coach Jason Davenport, Bell Park brothers Tim and Jackson Sheringham and Geelong West ruckman Jayden Symes are all notable omissions. Wells however sees it as an opportunity for some younger stars to make their name.
“It’s a good mixture of experience and youth,” he said. “We really wanted to have a squad that’s skilful and can hit targets through the middle of the ground. We need runners on a quick deck like Etihad Stadium and we certainly think we’ve picked a squad that can do that.”
The squad will be trimmed down at a later date, with Wells and his coaching staff including James Maas, Craig McCaughan, Paul Kelly and James Garvey sweating on the availability of 11 VFL-listed squad members, most notably St Mary’s Sam Dobson and St Joseph’s Jackson McLachlan.
“We’ve left it open to bring one or two in, but we think with the guys we have picked that they’ll be in the final squad,” Wells said. “We want to remain the number-one ranked league, and we think we’ve got a squad to win us the game.” SQUAD: PAGE 31