Coopers - Friday Night Footy Preview

the top of the table Woodsmen take on unknown quantity, the Bribie Island Bulldogs tonight at McCarthy Homes Oval.

Bribie Island were the Premiership winners in 2019 in the lower division and earnt promotion this year into the higher rated Friday night competition. It’s been nearly 10 years since these sides clashed, with the Woodies having fond memories of sensational Bribie Island Bus Trips in years gone by!

Once again, as is the nature of Woodies footy, there are 5+ changes to the side this week, headlined by the loss of club legend Jimmy Rozynski who sadly ruptured his ACL last week in the superb win over Jimboomba. Also out with a hamstring strain is the pontiff Val Pope, who turned back the clock last week with a vintage best on ground display and Luke Scott and Gabe McKinnon miss due to other commitments. However, on the positive ledger the Woodies are able to bring in former QAFL Senior Captains in Lachlan Woods and Gerard Moore, and multiple best & fairest winner Sam Curtis among some strong inclusions. Also in for his first game is Nick Barling, who is a very strong addition to the Woodsmen stocks.

It promises to be a fast paced battle as the Woodies are starting to hit their straps and adjsut to the pace of the younger brigade led by Colts Premiership players Abdullah Haddad and Sammy Minin, who was best on ground in the QAFL Colts 2018 Grand final Triumph.

With 2 x QAFL calibre ruckmen in Gerard Moore and Nick Barling feeding a strong midfield led by Gareth Crawford, the Woodies will be looking to lock the ball in their forward half and create scoring pressure with their speed at ground level and strong half back line lead by boom recruit Chris Brown.

If you’d like to get down to the club to enjoy some footy after the headline act, the u11 girls Sherwood Derby enjoy a Coopers and a meal from Bistro 56 or BBQ Mafia - we’d love to see you down there.

Be sure to register your attendance and adhered to all protocols!

Woodsmen vs Bribie Island - Fri 31/7 - 730pm @ McCarthy Homes Oval

B: Merritt - Evans - Young

HB: Brown - Thomson - Vine

C: Verma - Crawford - Jackson Jnr

HF: Haddad - Barling - O’Dea

F: Mihalopoulos - Davis - Minin

Foll: Moore - Woods - Curtis

Int: Petch - Gillespie - Skipsaris - Bates

Snap Fitness Sherwood - Senior Womens' Match Preview

WOMEN KEEN TO KEEP MOMENTUM GOING

After getting off the mark with a healthy win over Mount Gravatt in Round 1, Sherwood were able to carry plenty of confidence into the bye. It wasn’t all respite over the weekend with Eleisha Robinson, Andrea Carlaw and Jess Carlsen swapping black for red to play on permit with Moorooka in the QFAW North League. It was also great to see the women supporting other Magpies teams over the weekend from the QAFL down at Palm Beach to the Woodsmen at Yeronga, the one club approach being a key pillar of the culture at Sherwood.

This week we take on cross town rivals Morningside at Jack Esplen Oval in what shapes to be a challenging contest against an experienced opponent. Our focus this week has centred on gradual improvement in key areas that will make us perform better as a team. With 22 players making their debut for the club in round 1, we have been doing plenty of one-on one work building skill fundamentals, improving game sense and communication.

As will be the case most weeks, we have a few changes through injury and availability and have an excellent opportunity to test the depth of our squad.

Headlining the outs are Captain, Sam Chisholm (ankle) and Jaidyn Eastaughffe (unavailable).

Keep an eye out for Jess “Sharky” Stallard who will make her debut on Saturday following in the footsteps of older brother, Mitch Stallard (Sherwood QAFL / Redlands NEAFL). Balancing State Netball and Sherwood commitments, Jess has been training with the group since Pre-Christmas and will look to utilise the iconic Stallard family drop punt to break the lines and hit the scoreboard.  

Into the team also comes utility, Courtney Markey making her debut in her first year of Australian rules since making the move across from Rugby 7’s. Originally from Inglewood, Courtney continues the long running tradition of athletes from the Darling Downs making Sherwood their home club. Courtney has been working hard on her skills under the tutelage of former Brisbane Lion, Justin Clarke (the development coach at Sherwood),  and looks ready to make an impact for the team.

QFAW  Rd 3: Sherwood v Morningside at Jack Esplen Oval, Hawthorne on Saturday, July 25th at 6.30 pm

( NOTE: 16 players per team on the field)

B: Courtney Markey  Tianna Peters  Tabitha Potts

HB:  Nikki Hancock  Tui Sinclair

C: Tina Higginson  Samara Mahoney (VC)  Jess Carlsen

HF: Riley Hart  Jess Stallard

F: Emily Convery  Kate Lencz  Jess Power

Rucks: Eleisha Robinson, Selina Prevolsek

Rover: Jaimee Newton-Smith (Capt)

Int: Tessa Blair, Steph Krippner, Emily McRae, Chelsea Bulley, Susie Mobley, Steph Costa

Emerg: Laura Archer, Andrea Carlaw

PLACE PREVIEW - SHERWOOD LOOKING FOR GOOD START IN WET CONDITIONS

The Sherwood match committee have made three changes to their team for their big clash with the undefeated Morningside in QAFL Round 3 action at Morningside on Saturday, with 2 of them forced.

Making his debut will be Colts 2018 Premiership Captain Noah Resuggan after a fantastic pre-season, excellent reserves form and of course three seasons leading the Colts to 2 Grand Finals and a Prelim Final. Another youngster in Jack Briskey, who has one Senior game under his belt from last year has also been included and is an exciting talent a year on.. Also back in is swingman Jack Goodall after missing last week with a nagging injury.

Out are the injured Riley Greene, Riley Easton with work commitments and Aaron Maricic drops back to Reserves after a late call-up last week when Dan Edwards  was a late withdrawal due to injury.

Coach Anthony McDonald no doubt has stressed the need for a good start and to be switched on from the fist bounce after giving Palm Beach-Currumbin a 50 point head start last week before almost hauling them in. The operative word here is "almost" and all too often in the past the Pies have been guilty of playing "catch-up football"

However, this is a new team with a new coach and is a side loaded with plenty of talent  including 3 ex-AFL players, SANFL Premiership star and several Queensland representatives so the Pies have an exceptional side to put together a great season.

It is hard to get a handle on their Panthers opponents, who disposed of Labrador and Wilston-Grange with late bursts and with several players added to their list after the season commenced, getting a handle on their form can be difficult.

Liam Dawson has been on fire with 9 goals in his first two matches and while wet weather is forecast he and Brodie Lumber still have the forward presence and footy smarts to create havoc for the Panther defenders. Claye Beams has shown his class across half forward and poses another threat while Ryan Harwood is another in good early season form. Aaron Highlands has been in fine form in both the ruck and in defence. Riding shotgun will be skipper David Lewis, reigning  Bill Peirce medallist Luca Winton and Will Fletcher moves to half back after two strong games in the midfield, so the Magpies will also add plenty of run and carry to their stout defence

The Pies will miss Riley Easton, who applies forward pressure and in wet conditions would have been handy up forward and on the ball with his grunt work. Caleb Franks on ball has been excellent in tight for the Pies and will need to take over some of Easton’s role and Cade Scott has been terrific at the contest would have been a Rising Star weekly winner in either of his two games if the QAFL were  naming Rising Star in 2020.

With Edwards missing from one wing and Reville the other, the Magpies have taken from both defence and attack to replace them with the ultra consistent and reliable Ethan Sivijs getting a chance up the ground, while Billy Johnson moves from the forward pocket.

Wet conditions will make for a tough hard slog and the team that takes its chances will emerge the victor. Sherwood will be looking to bounce out of the blocks and an early lead will be priceless in the conditions.

QAFL Rd 3: Sherwood v Morningside at Jack Esplen Oval, Hawthorne  on Saturday, July 25th at 2 pm

B: David Lewis (Capt)  Luca Winton  Brenton Saunders

HB: Errin Wasley-Black Aaron Highlands  Will Fletcher

C: Ethan Sivijs  Ryan Harwood  Billy Johnson

HF: Claye Beams - Brodie Lumber - Liam Dawson

F: Noah Resuggan  Alex Mitchell   Drew Mitchell

Foll: Samson Ryan  Tom Baulch Caleb Franks

INT: Jack Goodall,  Jack Austin, Jayden Gallagher,  Cade Scott , Jack Briskey 

Pearson Automotive - Reserves Match Preview

Sherwood Reserves will be looking to bounce back and get a win on the board after two tough losses in the opening two rounds. The Pies were in both early season matches for  three quarters of the games but faded late in both to give up the 4 points.

Coach Cory Hopkins will be asking his players for a four quarter effort but as is the way of Reserves football, he has had to make 6 changes to the team, 5  of which were forced. 

In comes the Smith brothers, Rohan and Daniel after early season injuries, Aaron Maricic back from Seniors, exciting youngster Connor Bulley comes up from the Colts and Lachie Pearson and Aiden d'Roza are promoted from the Woodsmen.

Out go Noah Resuggan and Jack Briskey to the Seniors, Zac Collison and Harry Marshall are injured, Whitlam Bishop is unavailable and Josh Lane returns to the Colts after stepping up last week as a late inclusion after playing a full game in the Colts in an impressive showing.

The Reserves are a young team with a smattering of experience and like their Senior counterparts will want a good start to put scoreboard pressure on their Morningside opponents. The Magpies will need to be at their best if they are to get the four points and with wet weather forecast it will be the team which is hard at the contest and uses footy smarts that will prevail. 

QAFL Rd 3: Sherwood Reserves v Morningside at Jack Esplen Oval, Hawthorne  on Saturday, July 25th at 12 noon

B: Sam Hartog  Mitch McMillan  Rohan Smith

HB: Jordan Bonney  Finn Collison Peter Kilroy

C: Lachlan Davies   Jacob Aurisch   Daniel Smith

HF: Macauley Lonergan Cam Ferguson   Jackson Paynter 

F:  Connor Bulley  Trystan Juffs-King  Zane Lovell

Rucks: Alex Davila,  Sam St John

Rover:   Aaron Maricic

Int: Hamish Campbell, Chris Davis, Lachlan Pearson, Aiden D'Rosa

Tradecrete - Colts Match Preview

COLTS KEEN TO BOUNCE BACK

Sherwood Colts will be looking to have a big bounce-back match against Morningside this week. It was a great week on track with all the boys looking to rise to the challenge and continuing to work on structures and ball movement.

This week the Colts are looking to bring more physicality around the ball to ensure we are winning the ball at the contest and generating our own ball movement. Coaching staff are excited to see how we bounce back and continue our development as a team.

We welcome Zane Barrett into the side for the first time this year. He has been putting the extras in at training and has been unlucky not to get a run earlier. We have a couple of players under some injury clouds, but we will have a strong 22 on the park as we bring back Mitch Lake after being injured last week and move Charlie Thorpe onto the wing. Both these players are talented and we are hoping they impacted the game on the inside and give us spread through the middle of the ground.

 Our forward line will miss Connor Bulley, who has been promoted to the Reserves  so but we will look to push Cooper Crowell up the ground and play Lamont Kalolo deeper this week. Abu Kante and Andrae Mackay will be asked to provide ground pressure to lock the ball in.

Our mids have a massive job to shutdown Morningside’s ability to feed back and ensure we are getting first use. We are excited to see this group grow and see some great outside spread from Morgan Smith, Xavier Knight and Sean Ryan. At the same time, we have Mitchell Lake  and Tom Kearney win that ball for us and get it to our good ball users like Josh Lane and Brodie Gardner. Our backs will look to continue their strong start to the season with Oscar Murphy coming back in should provide the directional voice we lacked last week. We are hoping to continue to have Tom Evans and Will Hunt having massive impacts by intercepting marks across our halfback and looking to use Lawson Campbell and Rory Edwards run and carry coming out of our back half.

QAFL Rd 3: Sherwood Colts v Morningside at Jack Esplen Oval, Hawthorne on Saturday, July 25th at 10 am

B: Tom Evans - Oscar Murphy - William Hunt:

HB: Rory Edwards - Lawson Campbell - Jack Spry

C: Morgan Smith - Sean Ryan - Brodie Gardner

HF: Abu Kante – Andrae Mackay  - William Cruice

F: Lamont Kalolo - Cooper Crowell – Zane Bennett

Foll: Ethan Harris - Joshua Lane - Thomas Kearney

Int: Mitchell Lake- Xavier Knight – Jake Fennelly – Lachlan Harvey

Coopers Friday Night Footy Preview

The Woodies head down the Mt Lindsay Highway to arguably the coldest ground in South East Queensland when they take on the top of the table Jimboomba Redbacks tonight.

Both clubs sit 2-0 at the head of the ladder, but Jimboomba hold the % advantage after some crushing wins.

It’s a long rivalry for the two sides, having played off in 2 grand finals for a victory each a decade ago, but there have been plenty of significant battles since.

The Woodies will go into the game missing several key players and at time of writing have been unable to finalise their final 22, however in true Woodsmen style they will show up expecting to win regardless of the numbers or names missing!

The likes of Rozynski, Crawford, Davis and Mihalopoulos will still take the field, while the evergreen Gabe Mckinnon also pulls on the boots for the first time in 2020.

It promises to be a tough affair, and while the Woodies would welcome your support - realistically we know nobody is driving 45 mins to stand in the rain to watch the 3rds, but the lads know you’ll be thinking of them!

Go Woodies!

PLACE PREVIEW - EARLY SEASON TEST FOR SHERWOOD

Sherwood will get an early season test of their premiership credentials when the Magpies travel down the M1 to Salk Oval to take on bitter rivals Palm Beach-Currumbin in Round 2 QAFL action on Saturday.

There is no love lost between the old Pineapple Hotel Cup rivals who played some memorable finals matches and Grand Finals, with the Pies having a 2-1 Grand Final advantage from those years, and no doubt for the modern Magpie, the Lions are the arch rivals.

PBC have been the strongest club for the past 5 years in the QAFL and after they easily defeated last year's Premiers in Surfers Paradise last week will provide the Pies with a good guide where they sit in the QAFL pecking order.

The Sherwood selectors have made three changes to the side which made a powerful statement with a seven goal victory last weekend. In comes Samson Ryan to the ruck to replace Trystan Juffs-King, while Jayden Gallagher and Jack Austin are promoted from Reserves to cover for the injured Jack Goodall and unavailable Bruce Reville.

The Pies still look strong despite the outs and they look even all over the ground, but have a forward line that is capable of ripping any defence apart. Brodie Lumber and Liam Dawson marked strongly last week and with Claye Beams and Ryan Harwood have two potent ground level players.

Samson Ryan in ruck will allow Aaron Highlands to cover the loss of Jack Goodall at CHB.

Captain David Lewis goes to a wing and Luca Winton, Riley Greene and Erin Wasley-Black form the nucleus of a strong backline This match will give a good formline to who the team to beat is in the race for the QAFL flag in this shortened QAFL season. It shapes as a gripping and high class contest. 

QAFL Rd 2: Sherwood v Palm Beach-Currumbin at Salk Oval, Currumbin on Saturday, July 18th at 2 pm

B: Ethan Sivijs - Luca Winton - Brenton Saunders

HB: Erin Wasley-Black - Aaron Highlands -  Riley Greene

C: Dan Edwards - Ryan Harwood – David Lewis (Capt)

HF: Claye Beams - Brodie Lumber - Liam Dawson

F: Billy Johnson - Alex Mitchell - Riley Easton

Foll: Samson Ryan - Tom Baulch - Caleb Franks

INT: Drew Mitchell - Will Fletcher - Jack Austin - Jayden Gallagher - Cade Scott 

In: Jayden Gallagher, Samson Ryan, Jack Austin

Out: Jack Goodall (inj) Tristan Juffs-King (Reserves),  Bruce Reville (unavail)

Harvey Norman - Reserves Round 2 Preview

RESERVES NEED TO LIFT FOR TOUGH CLASH

Sherwood Reserves will be keen to have a better showing this week for their Round 2 clash with as strong Palm Beach-Currumbin at Currumbin on Saturday.

The Pies selectors made 6 changes to the side with Jayden Gallagher and Jack Austin promoted to the Senior side, Lachie Dennis injured Rohan and Daniel Smith unavailable. Alex Davilia was also unlucky to be omitted after this first game back in some time, but with Juffs-King coming back from the Seniors and with shortened games it is tough to take 2 ruckman into any side.

Tristan Juffs-King comes into to the ruck from a strong showing in the seniors last week and youngsters in Jacob Aurisch, Whitlam Bishop, Jack Briskey and Hamish Campbell are promoted. Briskey is an exciting young talent and he has filled out this year and will be keen to impress and push for senior selection. Chris Davis comes in for his Reserves debut after close to 100 games with the Woodsmen, to play in a competition he managed for 5 seasons in his role at AFL Queensland!

The Pies, while fit, looked short of a gallop last week with regards to playing as a team with poor execution and decision making at times. With a game under their belt, coach Cory Hopkins will be looking for a more polished performance from his team. It will be no easy task for his team at Currumbin as the Lions have been very strong in Reserves over recent seasons and had a good win last week. If the Magpies bring their best football then they are more than capable of winning and getting their season back on track.

QAFL Rd 2: Sherwood Reserves v Palm Beach-Currumbin at Salk Oval, Currumbin on Saturday, July 18th at 12 noon

B: Sam Hartog  Harry Marshall  Jacob Aurisch

HB: Jordan Bonney  Zac Collison Hamish Campbell

C: Macauley Lonergan  Ben Jaenke-Cain (Capt)  Jackson Paynter

HF: Zane Lovell  Jack Briskey Sam St John 

F: Whitlam Bishop Cam Ferguson Mitch McMillan

Foll: Tristan Juffs-King  Aaron Maricic   Noah Resuggan

Int: Peter Kilroy,  Lachlan Davies, Chris Davis, Finn Collison

In: Tristan Juffs-King, Whitlam Bishop, Jack Briskey, Hamish Campbell, Jacob Aurisch, Chris Davis

Out; Jayden Gallagher, Jack Austin (both Firsts)  Daniel Smith, Lachie Dennis (both inj), Alex Davilia,  Rory Johnson 

Carter Capner Law - Colts Preview

COLTS ALSO HAVE BIG CHALLENGE

Preview from Drew Mitchell

This week the Colts have a massive task in the form of Palm Beach. The rivalry is strong with the Colts age group and the contest is going to be on for the boys from the get go. Into the side this week comes Charlie Thorpe, a veteran to the colts age group, along with Xavier Knight and Lachie Harvey. All of which are forced changes with Mitch Lake and Oscar Murphy unable to play due to injury and Jack Briskey being called up into the Reserves and emergency for the Senior game

The Group had a great win round 1 and are looking to build on those efforts moving forward. Training has had a focus on staying connected through the middle of the field to be able to develop some run and carry and the boys have shown a good understanding of this. It will be exciting what they can put together come Saturday.

The back line were outstanding last week, taking away the dangerous space of the opposition and on the wider ground at Salk Oval it will be important the defenders don’t get sucked out too wide. The midfield has a core group of 9 quality players which make it very hard to select week to week. The depth means that we are always adding a valuable skill set on any rotation. The boys are starting to learn each other and how they move and once that connection grows stronger, it will only make them more damaging. Our forward line will have a different look this week with a tall going out and a medium size coming in. This provides an opportunity to provide pressure on the ball when it hits the ground in our forward half and will be a big focus for the boys this week.

It is an exciting test at this point and could set us in a really good position being such a short season. Ben (Jaenke-Cain) , Bryce (Crossley) and myself look forward to see the boys run out and see them show their full abilities as individuals and as a team.  

Sherwood Colts v Palm Beach-Currumbin at Salk Oval, Currumbin on Saturday, July 18th at 10.00 am

B: Tom Evans  - Charlie Thorpe - William Hunt

HB: William Cruice - Jack Spry - Lawson Campbell

C: Morgan Smith  - Sean Ryan - Brodie Gardner

HF: Lachie Harvey - Abu Kante  - Andrae Mackay

F: Lamont Kalolo - Cooper Crowell - Connor Bulley

Foll: Ethan Harris - Joshua Lane - Thomas Kearney

Int from: : Will Radcliffe, Xavier Knight, Thomas Mulvihill, Rory Edwards, Zane Barrett, Finn Lentz

Coopers - Woodsmen Match Preview

The Woodsmen dust themselves off after a hard fought Round 1 battle this week to head over to Yeronga to take on the Yeronga Senior side in Friday night Round 2 action.

As is often the case in the Woodies, there are wholesale changes to the side with last weeks best on ground Chris Brown (wedding), Lachlan Woods (away), Aleu Aleu (work) all unavailable and Hamish Campbell and Chris Davis promoted to the Reserves and Charlie Thorpe back to the Colts. Sam Curtis is also resting a niggle, as is Will Gillespie.

Into the side come Sam ‘Irish’ Banim, Matt Mazzerolle and Harry Radcliffe. There will also be 4 Woodsmen debutants in South Australian Harry Skipsaris, local lad Lachlan Pearson (on his birthday no less!), North Queensland product Nathan Evans and the experienced Matt ‘Doc’ Davis.

Many of the more experienced players coming into the Woodies side will be better for the run, acclimatising to night footy and the slippery nature of a dewy yellow football.

Harry Radcliffe will add plenty of athleticism to the ruck, while young Nathan Evans looks to have a hefty left leg on him that will do some damage. Sammy ‘Irish’ Banim is an excitement machine on a wing and pushing forward, while youngster and Colts Premiership player Abdullah Haddad has speed to burn

Sherwood Woodsmen vs Yeronga Devils, Friday 17 July - 7pm @ Yeronga

B: Prior - Young - Pearson

HB: D’Roza - Edwards - T.Jackson

C: Verma - Crawford - Banim

HF: Mazerolle - Moore - Workman

F: Davis - Scott - Haddad

Foll: Radcliffe - Pope - Rozynski

Int: Mihalopoulos - Thomson - Merritt - Skipsaris

EMG: Hicks

REGIS AGED CARE CHELMER - GUT FEELINGS

Gut Feelings is back again, a little late this week as the mind ticked over and we began to consider the great weekend of footy at Sherwood last week and beyond.

A random collection of thoughts from the influential minds, deep inside the Nest!

• Footy was back at McCarthy Homes Oval and what a great day it was to not only have football back but to win 4 out of the 5 senior matches, and certainly for the big contingent of Grey Magpies beating Mt Gravatt in 3 of those matches rounded off a great day. The return of Sherwood as the moniker for the Senior teams was pleasing to the Old Boys (Grey Magpies), many of whom were the stars when Sherwood won 8 flags in a row in the 1970s and 1980s.

• The ground and club premises were presented perfectly and a great turn-out proved that we all love our local footy and the cameraderie and community spirit it generates.

• The Senior QAFL Side side established an early ascendancy in a high standard contest and what a treat it was to see some free flowing football with long kicks into the forward line which resulted in  great contested marks. The Pies  have a potent forward line with the strong marking Brodie Lumber and Liam Dawson clunking them and then you have Ryan Harwood and Claye Beams lurking with their footy smarts creating headaches for opposing backmen. Billy Johnson is showing growing maturity to complement the group with a deadly left foot.  

• The Pies have a well rounded team with a half back line of skipper David Lewis, Jack Goodall and new player Erin Wasley-Black, who looks a class player with a raking left foot ( is there any other way to describe a left footer?). Reigning Bill Peirce Medallist Luca Winton anchors the backline at fullback and again won well over his opponent while Brenton Saunders mops up brilliantly and has made the transition from a small forward to an attacking defender seamlessly.

• AFLQ confirmed earlier advice late last week that the quarters would be 17 minutes with time on. Well, it was difficult to  detect any short quarters as each quarter on Saturday in the Seniors all went longer than 30 minutes. Maybe this has something to do with umpires and boundary umpires taking too long to either bounce or throw the ball up after a stoppage or throw it in at boundary throw ins. It is 10-15  seconds each time there is a stoppage!! This is not to blame the umpires as they follow instruction but maybe headquarters could look at this. 

•  Another obvious reason the quarters were longer was that 30 goals were kicked in a high scoring affair!

• The change to shorter quarters of 17 minutes without time on in the Colts and Reserves resulted in almost 50 minutes between the end of the Reserves and the start of the Seniors at 2 pm. Great for the returning Grey Magpies to reminisce but this is an unintended consequence of the shortened quarters without considering the impact the change would have on the schedule for the day’s football. Gut Feelings’ spy at Morningside said they had 1 hour between the Reserves and Senior matches!! Maybe an under 10s match could be slotted into the gap  in the future—not a bad thought!! Or start the Colts and Reserves 30 minutes later. Or what about  20 minute quarters again? After all , the rationale for shortened quarters in the AFL was due to short turn arounds which is not the case in the QAFL, with every match played on Saturdays only. No short turnarounds here.    

• Club President Andrew Thomson must have some good contacts in the media with the Under 11 girls team getting front page billing in the Courier Mail on Tuesday with an extended story several pages in, not to mention whenever several local TV stations want a backdrop for community sport McCarthy Homes Oval with its beautiful surface and picket fence is the backdrop. Thommo makes sure the scoreboard is in the background with " Sherwood" prominently displayed. All great publicity for the club and the game of Australian Rules. Keep an eye for some more media soon, with Queensland Fire and Rescue holding their first training session and season launch on Thursday, with media, firetrucks and helicopters on site! Plenty of Sherwood involvement with past players in Matt Dillion, Cory Hopkins, Jadan Morton taking part, while old boys Craig Lashman and John Cawcutt were on hand .

• The job of a club President is never done!! Despite a huge few weeks in the past month to ensure the club is all ready for a return to footy, ours certainly had a full day on Saturday! Starting at 7.45 Thommo ran the morning Auskick session, then made sure all was well for the Colts and Reserves games and mingled with guests, before disappearing to run water during the senior game. Though when asked why, he suggested he preferred to run water as that way he gets to watch the game without interruption! To top it off, for the big crowd who enjoyed the womens game at 4:45pm, you may have noticed Thommo still out there umpiring the game! Into the club afterwards for a well earnt drink and cleaning the dressing rooms before heading home around 8pm. He also reckons he got a few kicks in the Woodsmen game the night before!

• The Pies match day coaching panel is first class with senior coach Anthony McDonald, Senior Assistant Coach David Hamill, line coaches Quentin Johnson (midfield), Brett Connell (defence) and Alex Mitchell (Forwards) supported by gameday rotations manager Paul Grentell, Reserves coach Cory Hopkins and and development coach and match day runner Justin Clarke. 

• The Grey Magpies were out in big numbers on Saturday and this was in no small way to the efforts of Craig St John and Greg Adams who advertised that it would be a good day to celebrate the return of footy and the return of Sherwood as a senior entity. Paul Grentell from Cleanaway donated the brisket for lunch via BBQ Mafia which helped cap off a great day of football and reminiscing. 

• Spectators may have noticed players wore two black armbands on Saturday. These were in memory of Alex Smith, who until his passing was the club’s oldest Life member. Alex passed away recently at the age of 95, he remained very active until the end playing regular golf. Alex was club Treasurer for a total of 10 years spanning 1962 to 1974. Alex’s son Paul, an ex-player of the club, was introduced by Kevin Kluver at the after match presentations and made a number of presentations to the best players on the day.

• Cherie Morrison passed away recently at 58 years of age after a long battle with cancer.  Despite her battle, Cherie always had a cheery smile on her face whenever she visited the club and was always positive  regardless of her condition. Cherie was  Board member for a number of years and was a confidante of many senior players and her passing saddened many members of the club.

• The thirds aka The Woodsmen had an experienced line-up on Friday night but only just got over the line against Morningside. Looking at the calibre of players in the magpies side the match must have been a high class contest.  There was in excess of 1,000 senior games experience, 15+ Senior Premiership medals, 7 x Bill Peirce Medals and 3 of the 5 most recent Senior QAFL Captains!

• Sherwood’s Colts had a good victory  and have a very strong team. Several of the players in this side are good enough to be given an opportunity to play Senior and Reserves football with with the addition of the 23rd man rule where players 19 or under who have played less than 10 senior games can be used as a 23rd man in the senior side.

• The 23rd man was put to good use last Saturday with 17 year old  Cade Scott given a run-with role on the reigning Grogan Medalist which he stuck to manfully despite getting some rough treatment during the match. Cade won the much coveted BG Award for “Courage and Commitment” and fittingly was presented by club legend Chris Mihalopoulos after  Saturday’s game.

• The after match atmosphere was fantastic with a large contingent staying back in the clubrooms for the after match awards. And what a difference a win makes with the majority of players enjoying a night of i-pod shuffle back at the club on Saturday night organised by Luca Winton. Saw some interesting selections  in the lead up to the night, with Lazer Gun Show from our very own Peter Kilroy’s Hey Geronimo getting a guernsey as it were!!

• One of the highlights of the weekend was the return of womens football to Sherwood and the girls did not disappoint with a strong win over Mt Gravatt. 22 players made their debut  and Mitchell Merritt has a strong side at his disposal.

• This Saturday will go a long way to determining the pecking order in QAFL with Sherwood travelling to Palm Beach to take on the Lions, who demolished Premiers Surfers Paradise on Saturday. The Magpies-Lions matches have always been tough affairs with no love lost between the clubs after  a strong rivalry developed in the pineapple Hotel Cup days. All three teams will get a good test of their premiership credentials on Saturday.

• Youth Football also returns to Sherwood this weekend, with the u12s and one of the u14s sides also playing Mt Gravatt in Round 1, great to get the traditional rivalries going early!

• The Magpies are particularly strong through the u14 age group, and will also field 2 x u 16 teams in the local competition

• The Sherwood u11 Girls play in a competition with no scoreboard and no ladder, but if you saw any of their games - there is no doubt they are a strong pair of teams!

• Paul Grentell, (Dual Senior Premiership coach & Life Member) certainly jumped out of the pool into the fire, looking after the Sherwood u11s vs Kenmore then straight into the coaching box for the QAFL game to run rotations. He hasn’t worked out yet which is more stressful, but our spies tell us he was asking how many are allowed on the field in u11 not long before the bounce!

• The u8s will certainly be familiar with our friends over at the Jindalee Jags, with 5 x Sherwood sides pooled in a competition with 4 x Jindalee sides for a season of black, white, blue and yellow!

• GUT Feelings understands one u8’s team has as many as 3 or 4 Sherwood Father/Son selections in the side, its always great to see the next generation of talent come through and in several cases its now the 3rd or 4th generation to represent the Magpies.

• On the subject of Jindalee Jags, it was great to see several of their players representing Sherwood across the senior program over the weekend. The mighty Jags are a great footy nursery, with plenty of quality players at Sherwood originating from there such as Luke Scott and current senior players Billy Johnson and Mitch Stallard (inj). There is also a good spread of Jags in the QAFL Colts side lead in particular by Josh Lane who will be pushing for higher honours as well as several of his teammates.

Kaplan - Strong Colts side selected for Vultures clash

Preview by Co-Coach Drew Mitchell

The Sherwood Colts  group is excited to be finally back to footy. With the introduction of NEAFL players dropping back and an alteration to the Lions Academy program, the Colts playing roster went from 28 two weeks ago to a strong 33. From the start of the season  co-coach Ben Jaenke-Cain and I have had the mindset of preparing the Colts group for Senior football. This includes looking at the ins and outs of running patterns and spread, structures at stoppages, contested work, the link between forwards, mids and backs as the ball transitions up the field, skill level, and defensive pressure.

It has been very pleasing to see how well this group has engaged in the learning over the last 6 months. Leading into round one has provided a selection headache, as 33 doesn’t go into 22. However, from experience competition for spots only increases the level of training and playing.

The Colts back line this week will be led by our back line Captain Tom Evans with Will H and Oscar either side of him. We have an attacking group of half backs who are one on one competitive beast with Lawson Campbell,  Rory, and Jack. Will. R will come off the bench to support the backs and potentially rotate through a wing.

Week 1 will see our new captain Morgan Smith play on the wing with his Vice captain Brodie Gardner on the other wing . Our midfield has a variety of options with some very unlucky players missing out, who would be more then capable in the role. Again this puts some high expectations of the players selected in there to perform. Ethan, Josh, Tom. K and Colt veteran Sean Ryan will have first crack in the middle with Tom. M and newcomer Mitch Lake rotating through the area.

The forward half will see Jack Briskey,  who is pushing his claims for a senior selection with Connor. B, Lamont. K and our forward line Captain Cooper Crowell providing some serious tall strike power up front. These boys will be supported by our hard working crumbing forwards Abu. K and Andrea. M, with new to the club Will. C possessing  some really silk and class across half forward.

I know the boys a really excited to get into their first game. They set the task for themselves to create a legacy within the Colts program and we look forward to seeing how that unfolds.

Colts vs Mt Gravatt - 930am @ McCarthy Homes Oval

B: Evans - Murphy - Hunt:

HB: Edwards - Campbell - Spry

C: Smith - Ryan - Gardners

HF: Kante - Briskey - Cruice

F: Kalolo - Crowell - Bulley

Foll: Harris - Lane - Kearney

Int: Radcliffe - Mackay - Mulvhill - Lake

Tradecrete - Reserves look strong with experienced core named

Sherwood have selected a strong Reserves team for Saturdays opening round clash with Mt Gravatt.

Coach Cory Hopkins has a plethora of senior experienced players with 12 of the side having tasted senior QAFL football the Magpies.

With talented youngsters out of the Colts in Lachie Davies, Jackson Paynter and Noah Resuggan keen to push for senior spots and the inclusion of new players in Sam St John, Alex Davilia, Mitch McMillan and  Daniel Smith the Pies are looking to build a strong side and apply selection pressure to the senior side through consistent performances.

Zac Collison, Lachie Dennis, Jackson Paynter and Jack Austin in particular had very strong pre-seasons and Jayden Gallagher will be looking to build on his practice match form with some strong football. Aaron Maricic has obvious class forward of the ball and after a year out of football will be looking to build some momentum and show off his bag of tricks.

Alex Davilia is starting in the ruck and will be a keen starter after 4-5 years out of football, he was a superb junior/colts player at the club and onlookers will be keen to watch his progress.

QAFL Round 1: Sherwood Reserves v Mt Gravatt at McCarthy Homes Oval, Chelmer on Saturday, July 11th at 11.30 am

B: Kilroy - Marshall - R.Smith

HB: Gallagher - Z.Collison - Austin

C: R.Johnson - Jaenke-Cain - Paynter

HF: Davies - F.Collison - Lonergan

F: Maricic - Ferguson - St.John

Foll: Davilia - Resuggan - Dennis

Int: Bonney - D.Smith - McMillan - Lovell

Coopers Friday Night Footy Preview

The Sherwood ‘Thirsty 3rds’ aka the Woodsmen kick off the senior Season tonight after the U11Girls game vs Wests in a fantastic double header at McCarthy Homes Oval to open the Sherwood AFC season in 2020.

In what could modestly be described as an ‘experienced’ side, Sherwood will feature 3 former senior QAFL Captains, 7 x Bill Peirce Medals, over 1,000 senior games and a total of 16 x Senior Premiership medals in the lineup, not to mention 3 x Woodsmen Premiership players and a few Colts Premiership winners thrown in as well!

Making their official Woodsmen debut in a fixtured match are Val Pope, Gareth Crawford and Joel Workman.

There is also a bit of experience in the emergency list with the ageless David Jackson (aka The Minister of Defence from the early 2000’s QAFL days) and club stalwart and current President Andrew Thomson.

The Woodsmen have actually held several training sessions in recent weeks, increasing the training load from 2019 by approximately ‘several’! No doubt after being locked up for a few months, the older heads are enjoying hitting the track and building the atmosphere among the group. Captain/Coach Chris Mihalopoulos has named a balanced side and they are raring to go.

If you’re looking to enjoy a great night at the footy, get down to watch the Sherwood U11 Girls from 6pm, enjoy a few beers and a meal and then settle into watch the Woodies take on Morningside in what should be a high quality hitout.

Sherwood Woodsmen vs Morningside, McCarthy Homes Oval, Friday 10 July @ 730pm

B: D’Roza - Hunt - Prior

HB: Davis - Campbell - Hartog

C: Verma - Woods - Curtis

HF: Haddad - Moore - Workman

F: Pope - Scott - Mihalopoulos (C)

Foll: Aleu Aleu - Rozynski - Crawford

Int: Brown - Gillespie - J.Young - T.Jackson

Emergency: D.Jackson - Thomson - Skipsaris

Place Preview - Sherwood returns as new look Magpies take on old rivals

Sherwood have returned to Senior Queensland Football 52 years after the first Sherwood Senior team donned the black & white in 1968. Sherwood as the dominant SQAFA side who were finally promoted to QAFL in 1983 after years of politics prevented their entry finished as Senior QAFL club in 1990 when it merged with Western Districts before the merger failed in 1997 and the Magpies returned as a standalone side in 1999 as the Western Magpies. The Western Magpies era lasted exactly 20 years before an official return to the traditional Sherwood moniker was launched for the 2020 season.

What better way to start than with a Round 1 blockbuster against the oldest Sherwood rival, the Mt Gravatt Vultures.

The Magpies will have 4 debutants in the Black & White with ex Brisbane Lion, Liam Dawson, SANFL Premiership Player from West Adelaide, Errin Wasley-Black, ex local Kenmore junior and experienced VFL, NEAFL and QAFL player Alex Mitchell and young QAFL ruckman from Sandgate, the 208cm Tristan Juffs-King.

The Pies have also welcomed back their NEAFL bound players in Riley Green, Dan Edwards, Bruce Reville and Tom Baulch who were all primary listed Magpies in 2019 and welcomed back Billy Johnson and Caleb Franks. This season, with limited football being played, and AFL talent programs largely suspended, clubs can also name a ‘23rd’ man who must be under 20 and have played less than 10 Senior QAFL or NEAFL games to expose the players to recruiters and gain experience in senior football.

The Pies will be keen to start the season on a winning note, having dropped their Round 1 game the past 2 years by less than a kick. In a pleasant change, Sherwood will be at home in Round 1 for the first time in 5 years!

After 3 years of strong development, the Magpies are now a very good mix of youth and experience with 12 players 21 and under and just 3 players over the age of 30 with the core group in the middle being laden with talent such as captain Dave Lewis, reigning B&F Winner Luca Winton, Jack Goodall, Ryan Harwood, Claye Beams and Liam Dawson to name a few.

A great crowd is expected with a full day of footy and the Womens team after the Senior game.

QAFL Round 1: Sherwood vs Mt Gravatt, McCarthy Homes Oval, Sat July 11 - 2pm

B: Lewis (C) - Winton - Saunders

HB: Wasley-Black - Goodall - Greene

C: Edwards - Harwood - Reville

HF: Beams - Lumber - Dawson

F: Johnson - A.Mitchell - Easton

Foll: Highlands - Baulch - Franks

INT: Sivijs - D.Mitchell - Fletcher - Juffs-King - Scott

EMG: Gallagher - Resuggan - Paynter - Dennis

Regis Aged Care - GUT Feelings

Gut Feelings is back again, a little late this week as the mind ticked over and Round 1 approached

A random collection of thoughts from the influential minds, deep inside the Nest!

• The shortened Covid-19 QAFL season has a bit of “Forrest Gump” about it—you are not sure what you are going to get!! With an influx of NEAFL players back into the QAFL and QFA as well (!) some clubs may have a completely new look. Only time will tell who are the teams to beat.

• The Magpies had a solid internal trial last week but were missing quite a few of it regular senior players but plenty of youngsters put their hand up for selection, would want to be on match committee for quids!

• The Reserves  (under first time coach Cory Hopkins) and Colts (under Drew Mitchell and Ben Jaenke-Cain) will also be incredibly strong, with the Reserves likely to feature a team containing at least 50% of who have played Senior football

• The other highlight will be the return of the Sherwood Women’s team after a break of 5 years and numerous facility upgrades. With Womens football at Sherwood dating back to 1972, its great to see the ladies back in black & white this week!

• Sherwood had one of the strongest womens’  teams in Queensland in the early 2000s, often coached by Will Fozard - but the team went into hibernation after the 2011 floods wiped out the club facilities and the playing group en masse were tempted to another club.

• Coach Mitch Merritt has worked hard to build a team from scratch and on return to training had an influx of players to ensure the Pies will have a strong lineup. Merritt has been assisted by Western Districts QAFL 1996 Premiership Captain and 1993 Best and fairest winner Cam Bulley.  

• The Magpies will start in QFAW Division 2 South with a team featuring plenty of first gamers.

• The Sherwood Grey Magpies have been active in the off season, helping fund the new coaches boxes at the ground and have also encouraged many past players to come along to the footy on Saturday. The Grey Magpies have also invited their old adversaries from Mt Gravatt to enjoy the hospitality at the Nest and relive many old memories—most of the Sherwood ones will be good, Mt Gravatt not so!!

• Unfortunately the new coaches boxes won’t quite be ready in time, so in Round 1 vs Mt Gravatt the home and away coaches will be just 10m apart!

• The club honour boards are still in the process of being updated after the renaming of the senior teams to Sherwood. Hopefully the new boards will be up before the next home game on August 1st.

• Some other interesting or unfortunate outcomes of the shortened season and COVID-19 period is the lack of representative football. At Senior level, its welcome news with the Academy Series not wiping out large parts of Senior lists at random intervals and giving players the opportunity to play genuine Senior State League football.

• With a full contingent of the academy players in circulation, the QAFL Colts will be a red hot competition

• Unfortunately in other younger age groups it has robbed youngsters of the opportunity to go on memorable footy trips with their representative teammates, and enjoy great experiences they may never get the opportunity to again. Several boys in junior state team contention will ‘age out’ and miss their chance.

• It’s great to see several of the Sherwood youth and junior teams coached by players from the Senior ranks with Sherwood Girls U11s coached by some of the experienced Senior Womens players, while the u12s, 14s and 16s are coached by players from both the Sherwood and Kenmore Senior squad ranks.

• Gut Feelings has written several times about ways in which to speed up the game and reduce congestion –good to see hawthorn coach Alistair Clarkson  picked up on a couple of suggestions re incorrect disposal.

• One was to pay free kicks for incorrect disposal –too many times players get tackled and then just let the ball roll out—no attempt to handpass or kick the ball and with no free kick the rugby type maul continues until the umpire blows the whistle for a ball up. Then the umpire waits until the ruckmen put their hand up and after about 10 seconds the ball is thrown in the air. In the meantime another 10 players have arrived to further congest the area. 

• In addition the boundary umpires wait 10 seconds to throw the ball in for the same reason –waiting for ruckmen to arrive but by that time another 10 players are  also now at the boundary thrown in contest.

• Old TV vision from the 1980s and before  shows the field umpire blow the whistle quickly if there is no free kick and the ball is locked in and then immediately bounced the ball with about 2-3 players from each side at the contest. The boundary umpires—and there was one each side—managed to get the ball back in quickly as soon as they picked the ball up.

• So Gut feelings suggests to get rid of the hand in the air ruckmen and simply have a rule  that only two players contest the ruck or boundary throw in and if a third player contest then it is a free kick.  Umpires throw the ball up ASAP and boundary umpires throw the ball in ASAP.  I think this has been mentioned previously!!.

• The other rule, which Gut feelings calls the “Steve Mitchell Rule”, which  looks like it is now being implemented at AFL level is if a player tucks the ball in to take the tackle and then does not dispose of it CORRECTLY as soon as possible will be penalised for holding the ball.

• Gut Feelings is of the opinion that radical rule changes are not needed to keep the game as most of us know it. Talking about zones, reducing teams to 16 players etc  will mean fundamental changes to our game.  If zones were introduced I can imagine a scenario where the ball stops 1 metre outside the 50 metre arc and players who are in inside the zone cannot pick the ball up!!  As BT would say, “ boy, oh, boy!!” 

• The Brisbane Lions are playing attacking  football and prepared to take a risk and kick to the open side and also to a contest and as a result they dismantled Port Adelaide and similarly the Giants dismantled the Hawks defence with controlled but rapid ball movement.  So there is hope for footy yet!! 

• We in Queensland are lucky to have our local community football back as all local footy in Victoria has been cancelled for the season. The Riverina, ACT and Sydney leagues are  at this stage playing a shortened season but it is a lot of pain for footballers and netballers and their communities for the 2020 season. Even in the dark days of WW2 when regular competitions were put on hold often shortened competitions were still played and the pubs were still open!!

• The likelihood is that the QAFL will comprise 12 teams in 2012 with the addition of Aspley , Redland and Noosa. The QAFL will have a tightly controlled salary cap and the points system in place to make sure the competition is relatively even as noted below.

• The QAFL made some tweaks to the points system this season to allow for NEAFL players to return to their QAFL alignments without attracting too high a rating.

• Hence Sherwood will be well under the maximum points allowed due to most of the NEAFL returnees all coming through the Magpies ranks at some stage of their development.  

The QAFL points system is:

Category 1:   Player  developed within own club – 1 Point (40 Junior games)

Category 2: Community Player – 2 Points

A player who has played more reserves games than senior games in total, over the current and/or previous three (3) Seasons at community football level or has played in competitions that do not meet the Category 3 - Senior Community Player criteria.

Category 2: Youth and Rising Star Eligible player - 2 Points

Player recruited from another club that is under twenty (20) years of age prior to 1 January of the competition year.

Category 3: Senior Community Player – 3 Points

Player who has played the same or more senior games than reserves games in total, over the current and or previous three (3) Seasons in QFA Div 1 or AFL Cairns or any interstate Senior competition (that does not meet the Category 4 threshold).
The player must have played at least 5 games in total, for either the Seniors or Reserves teams (not accumulated across both).

Category 4: Premium Competition Player – 4 Points

Players from premium competitions interstate eg Ovens and Murray League , TSL, NTFL, WAAFL, EDFL, GVFL etc

Category 5 : state League – 5 Points

Players who have played minimum 5 seniors games in VFL, WAFL, NEAFL or SANFL in any of the previous 3 seasons

Category 6: AFL Player - 6 Points

Player who has played a minimum one AFL game in any of the current or previous 3 seasons

The Sherwood Football Club Senior Footy Department have done their homework and with a largely homegrown list, are unlikely to get within 10 points of the points cap during the season.

GUERNSEYS COME OUT OF STORAGE AS PIES DUST OFF COBWEBS

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.

Regis Aged Care Chelmer - GUT Feelings

With footy just around the corner, we are back for the first edition of GUT Feelings…

A random collection of thoughts from the influential minds, deep inside the Nest!

Gut Feelings has come out of a covid-19 forced hibernation as rumours of a return to football filtered through the cave so here we go again, albeit a later start than expected in 2020

• The QAFL is now scheduled to play Round 1 on Saturday July 11. At this stage it is proposed that the competition will comprise of 9 rounds. 4 home games, 4 away games and a bye, with each team playing once and then into a 4 week finals series. Finals will be Top 6 this year, which is a good initiative to ensure as much footy as possible is played in 2020

• There is plenty of preparation work to occur before games begin, but training has been going for 2 weeks now at the Senior level for Men & Women, while juniors are also off and running.

• Junior football is anticipated to commence the week later on July 18, while the Woodsmen will likely be the first game played for the season on Friday July 10.

• Sherwood will host traditional rivals, the Mt Gravatt Vultures in Round 1, a welcome change after inexplicably heading to Dittmer Park for 5 consecutive seasons for a Round 1 fixture!

• There are still questions to be answered on match day protocols as restrictions continue to change, but limiting spectators at McCarthy Homes Oval may be very tricky as the ground is not an enclosed facility and can be accessed from 360 degrees

• Senior Coach Anthony McDonald and Exercise Physiologist and Strength & Conditioning Coach Daniel Robson-Petch have mapped out fitness programmes for all players and the players have sent in data throughout the shutdown period about their activities to monitor their progress. McDonald has been an inspired choice of coach in the pandemic as he has good communication skills and has worked hard to have his players as ready as can be for when the season starts. 

• McDonald has asked all his players to buy in to a “team first ethos” and to strive for excellence by respecting the club and your teammates  by not taking any shortcuts.  The acronym is BERG which stands for “Build Excellence Reach Glory”. Why BERG ? — The Berg has been the players’ nickname for the club premises for many years now.

• The club has been forced to make a coaching change due to the Covid-19 pandemic with Reserves coach Scott Hannan having to move from Toowoomba to North Western Queensland for employment reasons. The club has announced former player  Corey Hopkins as his replacement. Hopkins, who played at NEAFL level with Redland & Southport and had a stint in the SANFL, has been on the club’s coaching panel for the past 2 seasons and has a good football brain with excellent communication skills

• The clubs assistant coaches/line coaches for 2020 are 2019 Coach of the Year, David Hammill well supported by Quentin Johnson, Alex Mitchell and Brett Connell, while there will be some specialist development coaching from Justin Clarke & Gerard Moore among others.

• The social media presence of the club throughout the lockdown period and return to football as well as communications via the club newsletter has been first class. The COVID Safety posters using Sherwood players young and old to get the important messaging across with a dose of humour was highly amusing and more importantly, very effective.

• As the club prepares to return to football at all levels, a huge thanks should go to the hard working board lead by our Club President Andrew Thomson, along with many other volunteers working tirelessly to keep the club not just viable, but healthy.

• During the ‘no football period’ instead of enjoying a well earnt break, we have seen some excellent work sharing the club history, the near completion of new coaches boxes both home & away, the clubhouse roof is being replaced, a ballet studio(!) has been launched to maximise use of underutlised space, the club bistro has been re-launched, the bar has been revamped and so much more!

• Our new Director of Operations and also a club sponsor, Jie Walsh has been invaluable in his work within the licensed venue to maximise efficiency. Working alongside our new Venue Manager, John Simpson - the Magpie family won’t know themselves with new and improved menus for food and drink and friendly service with a smile that goes part and parcel with a family footy club.

• We can never speak enough about our volunteers who look after our playing surface. These lads do a marvellous job presenting such a great oval not just for our players, but also for the local community who were out in force during the shutdown. Big thanks the BBQ Mafia boys who feed them each Friday morning with Breakfast fit for a king!

• GUT Feelings has heard of an East Coast league proposed to include the AFL club Reserves – the 10 clubs in Victoria and x2 clubs in SE Queensland and x2 clubs in Sydney. This obviously has implications for the viability of the NEAFL this year but also in the future.

• The GUT Feelings crystal ball will suggest the NEAFL is  dead in the water and Redland and Aspley will re-join the QAFL in 2021 while Southport are  applying to be included in the East Coast league as either a stand alone club or in alignment with the Gold Coast Suns. 

• With NEAFL now officially cancelled for Season 2020, there is a flood of players on the market. While some clubs could be tempted to take a short term view, GUT Feelings is confident that Sherwood Football Club won’t lose sight of the big picture.

• Sherwood have 10 players from the club in the NEAFL such as Mitch Stallard, Caleb Franks, Dan Edwards and Billy Johnson at Redland, Cal Carseldine, Jackson Allen and Tom Baulch at Aspley, Bruce Reville at the Lions, Samson Ryan at Canberra and Riley Greene at Southport. Combined with a number of aligned players (no previous Sherwood affiliation) from Redland such as Matt Thomson, Stephen Mills, Scott Miller, Adrian Williams, Boyd Bailey and Harrison Kerr - suddenly the landscape changes significantly.

• Sherwood is proud family club with many club juniors part of the Senior program, and the arrival of potentially 16 players from the NEAFL could upset the balance. However, GUT Feelings is confident this will be managed appropriately and players will only be welcomed if there is an open discussion on 2021 intentions and beyond.

• It looks very likely that the junior football landscape has changed for 2020 as well. State and National Representative carnivals cancelled, academy games unlikely. With plenty of Sherwood players involved in academies, regional sides and likely would have gone onto state sides its a tough pill to swallow for the kids missing out on these memorable experiences in their formative footy lives. Good luck to recruiters at the draft, having not seen any underage footy in 2020!

• Also looks like divisional footy in the youth space is off, with youth football following junior guidelines and playing against local teams as opposed to being graded. Sherwood are so strong in a couple of age groups, we might end up with Sherwood vs Sherwood in one age group grand final if it heads that way!

• Rule changes, a pet topic of GUT Feelings! — 16 minute quarters—does not impact on QAFL football as play weekly and not 5 days apoart as may be the case in the AFL--  must be some element of fatigue nd a place for the big man who may lack a yeard in pace

• If need to reduce quarters then maybe settle on 18 minutes

• In light of Rugby League changes which have sped up the game then some simple changes will speed up our game—get rid of ruck nominations and it is simply one player each into the ruck and a third man up incurs a free kick—boundary umpires take 10-15 seconds to throw the ball in and ball ups can take too long—get the ball back into play as quickly as possible which will reduce crowding and speed up play. And it may result in more fatigue which then opens up the game as players struggle to get to the next contest. After all, once upon a time coaches would try to have their team fitter than the opposition so that later in the game they could get on top and their fitness advantage would result in a win.

• As for reducing teams to 16 per side, let’s take a deep breath and not alter the game too much. The game is fast enough if allowed to flow and a reduction in number of players in a team will result in the death of the big man who may lack a yard in pace but still offer a target in an 18  a side game. We still want to see a physical contest rather than a game of keepings off which may well be the result of a 16 a side match. 

Place Graceville - Pathway Update - We're Back!

Great news - Footy Season start dates have been finalised by AFL Queensland this week!

Ss you may have seen over the past few weeks, we have been posting updates to our various social media channels and the club website about an imminent return to footy. We have tried to make them both informative and fun, so take the time to follow us on Facebook if you have it.

Last week, the Queensland Government have eased COVID-19 restrictions to Stage 2 and are currently planning to ease restrictions down to Stage 3 on July 10th.  This allowed us to commence senior training with maximum of 20 on the oval at any one time, which is impractical for Junior football given our volume of players.  With confirmation from the State Government that now confirms we can have 3 separate groups of 20 on the Oval in defined zones, we are now ready to get started!

With this in mind, AFLQ have released their plan to return to footy and the two main bullet points are:

•     We can start training immediately

•     Games are likely to commence in early to mid July

There is a lot of important information in this email, so please read it carefully.

However, as a priority - please get in touch with your team manager ASAP to confirm your intention to both train and play in 2020 as we need to confirm our teams.  If you are unsure who your team manager is, please reply to this email and we will provide the contact details.

Full details on all policies and procedures are available HERE

A checklist and set of guidelines specifically relating to Stage 2 is HERE

These are incredibly detailed resources, we have taken the time to summarise them below with information relevant to parents and players.

Training during Stage 2 restrictions:

We are very well prepared and have finalised training dates starting next week for some teams, with others beginning the following week. Training for each team will only be held on one day each week during Stage 2 restrictions.

There are a number of other rules that the club must follow during Stage 2 restrictions when running training sessions. These rules will be in place for all of Stage 2, and we appreciate your understanding and efforts in helping the club to comply with them. There will bespot checks on clubs throughout Stage 2 from authorities, and any breaches of the rules may cause sanctions to be imposed on the club.

The guiding principle for Stage 2 training is  “Get in, Train, Get out”.

Summary of training Rules:

• Appropriate social distancing rules still apply.

• One training session a week during Stage 2 restrictions.

• Maximum of 20 people involved in one training session (incl coaches).

• Your team manager/coach will advise you of the groups. Once assigned a group, you must stay with the group during Stage 2 training. No group swapping without permission is allowed.

• Training sessions will b restricted to specific training zones.

• There will be a COVID kit for each training group that includes hand sanitiser, spray sanitiser and disinfectant wipes.

• No training with any group that is not your age group (ie, your child can’t train with their sibling in another age group like they may have done in the past).

• Training attendance sheets will be completed to adhere to regulations

• Bring your own water bottle and snacks. No sharing.

• Get ready for training at home. Arrive at the ground ready to train. There will be no access to changerooms.

• Use of footballs only, no other equipment.

• All footballs must be wiped down with antiseptic wipes at the end of the training session.

• No physical contact. No tackling. No hi-fives. No huddles.

• Arrive at training at the start time. Not earlier. There will be no kicking balls around the oval before training

• Leave training immediately on completion of training as other teams (incl seniors) may be training on that day

• If your child is not feeling well, do not come to training

• Parents are encouraged to not congregate around the oval during training. If practical, simply drop and go.  Otherwise please wait in the car, or inside the club while adhering to all directions from bar and restaurant staff.

The rules don’t sound like fun, but they let us get back to footy in a post COVID-19 environment. They are the rules for Stage 2 only, which is currently scheduled to end on July 10th. When restrictions are eased to Stage 3, more regular training patterns will resume.  So at the moment, we need to “Get in, Train, Get out”.

It’s only a short time we need to do this and we thank you for your support and adherence to the Stage 2 training rules.

Reminder: Failure to comply with the above could lead to sanctions on the club.

The Season:

With the Queensland Government planning to ease restrictions to Stage 3 on July 10th, AFLQ has released the start dates for the upcoming season.

Fixtures will be provided after updated team nominations have been received by AFLQ. We require confirmation of players asap so that we can re-register our teams. 

Auskick does not have a defined start date, but we anticipate it being in line with Stage 3 restrictions.
 
Summary:
Things are moving fast and, at the moment, for the better. We can get back into footy sooner than many of us thought. The club is well prepared, but there are strict rules we need to follow. We need your support over the next 5-6 weeks to make sure Sherwood’s return to footy is successful.

Thanks for your patience and understanding in these trying times. 

In a final note, if you ordered and had a mouthguard fitted from the wonderful folks at Essential Care Dental - please visit their clinic asap to collect!
 
Footy is back! 
Up the Maggies!

McCarthy Homes - Stage 2 Restrictions Brought Forward

Since the most recent announcement regarding return to play protocols and dates, Sherwood Football Club in recent weeks have worked diligently towards the Stage 2 Restriction Date of Friday 12 June, with training to commence the week following.

In somewhat unexpected (but welcome!) news, the State Government has brought forward this date to Monday June 1 !

However, while we are now permitted to train from June 1, there are significant protocols in place that we are required to adhere to and unfortunately while we are extremely well prepared and advanced in our planning, we were not prepared to a return to training for all age groups this week!  Given we have over 700 active male and female playing participants across AFL9's, Auskick, Juniors, Youth, Colts and Senior Football it is next to impossible to have us all back out there this week given the restrictions of 20 people (including coach) per oval per session!

AFL Queensland have put in a submission to the QLD Chief Health Officer to allow Australian Rules Football Clubs to have multiple groups of 20 on a full size oval, but don't expect an answer for approximately 48 hours so all clubs remain bound by these restrictions.  Given you can fit about 40 basketball courts on a full size oval, and the restrictions are the same - we are hoping for a positive outcome from this submission.

This outcome will then form the basis of our final stage planning for a return to training for all grades of football.

There are still significant protocols in place for this return and these are outlined in THIS DOCUMENT 

Headline items from these protocols include:

• No contact & players/coaches must remain 1.5m apart

• No access to changerooms

• No equipment other than footballs and markers

• Come dressed to train & bring your own water bottle

However, for a clear understanding of the restrictions we encourage you to read the document linked above.

Sherwood Football Club MUST appoint at least one COVID-19 Safety Officer.

The COVID-19 Safety Officers bears no liability for a potential outbreak, they are only in place to ensure adherence to protocols to the best of their ability(ies).

ALL Club medical staff (including Doctors, physio, trainer, first aid officers) must complete Australian Government Infection Control Training

However, we also encourage all coaching staff, volunteers and team managers also complete this training.

You should see in the coming fortnight a gradual return to training for Senior Men & Women and Colts with Youth and then subsequently Juniors to follow.  Regular updates will be posted on the club website and social media, while major announcements will be done via the weekly newsletter.

If you haven't already been in touch with your team manager and/or coach regarding your intentions to play in season 2020, please do so ASAP to assist with planning. Your team manager will generally be your best resource for training times once confirmed, though we will endeavour to update websites, social media and via newsletter where practical - but wish to avoid spamming!

In a final note, we once again share the following resources for anyone interested in the return to play protocols:

AFLQ Roadmap

Community Guidelines & Fixtures

We are now very close to a return to football and its an exciting time for all.  Please continue to do your part and adhere to all government regulations, download the COVID Safety App and follow the directions of our club volunteers when training recommences, this has never been more important than it is now!

Huge thanks to our hardworking committee who are adapting to a fast changing environment day by day, while no doubt adapting in their professional and personal lives as well!

Massive thanks also to each of our Magpie family for so far doing their bit to get us to this point, we look forward to seeing you soon.