The Pies jumpers will come out of storage this weekend as all 4 senior mens grades suit up for some intraclub scratch matches to dust off the cobwebs after a record length pre-season ahead of Round 1 next weekend!

The Covid-19 pandemic has had some interesting outcomes and one has been the shortened QAFL season and the cancellation of the 2020 NEAFL Season and possibly the end of NEAFL football for good.

What this means is that the Magpies welcome back 8 players with a Sherwood background back into the Senior squad, most importantly 7 of those 8 are 20 years old or under and have come through the Sherwood Juniors or Colts. The Magpies also added two more experienced players in ex Lion, Liam Dawson via Aspley and former SANFL Premiership player with West Adelaide Errin Wasley-Black.

However, the Magpies were strategic in their approach and chose to ‘cap’ the influx of playing talent to 10 players, with a strong focus on youth and players with a Sherwood connection. Given Sherwood already had more NEAFL aligned talent from their junior/colts ranks than any other Brisbane based QAFL club it was always going to be a delicate balancing act. Aspley Captain and Sherwood product Jackson Allen is having a season with the Goondiwindi Hawks, while former Magpie Captain and Grogan Medalist Cal Carseldine is staying with Aspley in their QFA ranks.

The Sherwood hierarchy of President Andrew Thomson and his board in consultation with Senior Coach Anthony McDonald have fielded numerous requests from other NEAFL aligned players to join the Pies but decided to stick to the a cap of 10 with obvious preference given to Magpie youth who shouldn’t be denied the chance to play the highest level of football available to them during their crucial development years.

With the Queensland Government easing of restrictions from Friday, July 3 which permits match full contact training and official games,  the Pies have scheduled two intra-club games on Saturday July 4, starting with a very talented Colts outfit mixing with the Woodsmen at 11:30am before the Senior Squad get into a full contact session from 2pm.

The Magpies retained most of last year’s playing list, with the most significant retirements from the Senior ranks in Val Pope, Gareth Crawford and Gerard Moore expected to feature at 1130am alongside the likes of Chris Mihalopoulos, Jim Rozynski and Chris Hunt among others, so the Colts are certainly in for some outstanding on-field education!

As mentioned above the Pies have welcome back 7 teenage young guns back from NEAFL Ranks in Tom Baulch (Aspley), Billy Johnson, Dan Edwards, Caleb Franks (Redland), Samson Ryan (Canberra), Bruce Reville (Lions) and Riley Greene (Southport). Edwards was R/up in the 2019 Magpies B&F, while Greene was 4th - so they are crucial cogs in the Magpie machine! Sadly the perenially unlucky Mitch Stallard had one training session back at Sherwood and looked as fit as a racehorse before breaking his hand, likely ruling him out of the shortened season.

Another returning player to Sherwood after a year off is the classy Aaron Maricic who is looking fit and could be a crucial recruit at the Magpies with his polish and clean disposal forward of the ball. Another youngster who joined the Pies ranks is the developing big man Tristan Juffs-King. He stands at 208cm and is an imposing figure on the track after joining the Magpies from Sandgate who sadly dropped out of the QAFL before the pandemic hit. On the more experienced side of the recruiting ledger is former local Kenmore junior Alex Mitchell, who joined the Magpies primarily in a coaching role but still has plenty to offer on the field after a long VFL, NEAFL and QAFL career.

The Pies were also active in the local junior ranks with the highly sought after Josh Lane joining from Jindalee and a swag of youngsters coming over from a strong age group who came through Wests Juniors in the likes of Connor Bulley, Mitch Lake and Ethan Harris. (all are also colts eligible players)

Meanwhile, the Pies own playing stocks from 2019 have continued to improve and develop with Colts B&F Winner Jackson Paynter looking to take the next step alongside Cade Scott, Noah Resuggan and Lachie Davies. Scott is still an eligible Colt, but having tasted senior football in 2019 will again be looking to establish himself in the big league.

The nucleus of last year’s team is still at McCarthy Homes Oval led by skipper David Lewis, ex-AFL players Ryan Harwood and Claye Beams, key players In Bill Peirce Medallist Luca Winton, Jack Goodall, Aaron Highlands, Brody Lumber, Will Fletcher, Drew Mitchell and Brenton Saunders  and highly regarded youngsters in Riley Easton, Lachie Dennis and Ethan Sivijs.   Another youngster has looked super impressive on the track in the pre-season is Zac Collison, but alongside Highlands, Beams & Harwood won’t be on show tomorrow due to a prior commitments. (the game was hastily arranged on 72 hours notice)

Coach Anthony McDonald says it has been an interesting time adjusting to the changes but has taken the view that these are exciting and challenging times and he has met challenges head on with  a strong online presence during the shutdown period to ensure good communication with his players and then on return to training managing the social distancing and the gradual changes to the restrictions.

The new challenge has been absorbing the return of 10 of Sherwood’s NEAFL aligned players into the club and also managing a playing list that stretched beyond 70 with only 45 available spots! Training in the past month has been in 3 groups of 20 with the oval divided into 3 sections with players in each group not to socialise or mingle with players in other groups. However, training will be back to what most of us will think of as normal next week before the big opening clash with old rivals Mt Gravatt at McCarthy Homes Oval at Chelmer on Saturday July 11th .  

The Sherwood football community will be looking on with interest on Saturday as the long awaited 2020 season gets a bit closer.

All supporters are reminded that social distancing will be required at the footy so we can all continue to remain well and the season will be able to continue without interruption.