The Coburg Tigers are hoping to start the season on a high note as they take on cross town rivals Northern Blues in the season opener next Saturday.
The Tigers have put in a strong pre-season and are hoping some new faces around the club, as well as the addition of talented young players in their leadership team will steer them in the right direction for a more consistent season.
“From last year our main area for improvement is consistency with our results. The main focus for the pre-season has been learning the new game plan and set ups. We are a very young squad with a lot of new faces this year,” said Ben Clifton, who was named vice captain at the teams pre-season camp in early February.
Nick Carnell will captain the Tigers for his fourth year, along with the support of a fresh new leadership team in 2012.
After finishing second in last year’s best and fairest, Clifton has been elevated to the leadership team along with teammate Rhett Jordan. Both players are going into their fifth season with the club this year.
Other new young additions to the leadership team that have sparked excitement include 19 year old Willy Wheeler, who finished third in the club’s best and fairest and Pat Contin who was delisted by Richmond last year and demonstrated leadership and improvement while playing for Coburg for the past two seasons.
“Willy will just keep evolving as a player with this role in the leadership group. And Patty is bringing a bunch of knowledge with him from two years on Richmond's list and will give us good feedback from a Richmond player’s point of view,” Clifton said.
The team has shown significant improvement in their practice matches with Damien Rayson, Leighroy Masters and Michael Tanner all putting in impressive pre-season performances.
Coburg kicked off the pre-season with a 55 point win against Frankston and put up a strong fight against 2011 preliminary finalists, Werribee Tigers, despite going down by six points.
This weekend, the Tigers went down with a disappointing 70 point loss to Geelong at Simonds Stadium, failing to score in the final quarter.
They will be hoping to redeem themselves in their final practice match against Box Hill Hawks on Friday night.
Clifton says supporters of Coburg and AFL affiliate, Richmond Tigers have got exciting things to look forward to this season with some fresh faces as well as young crowd favourites tipped to make an impression.
“I believe the fans can expect to see a large year from Willy Wheeler and see Rhett Jordan to kick a lot of goals. It will also be good to watch the progression of new players such as Jason Cole, Danny Venditti and Nick Maric.”
He has urged supporters to come down and help kick off the season as the Tigers take on the Northern Blues at home.
“Round One will be full of excitement for the opening game of the season. Starting the year at home against the Northern Blues with all Coburg listed players will be a great site to see and will be good fun to play in a game that can set up our season on a positive note.”
The Coburg Tigers will take on the Northern Blues at Mantello Holden Oval on Saturday 24 March at 2pm.
By Heather Mellican
Last Modified on 16/03/2012 13:02