Sandringham made steady improvement to remain in finals contention until the last round of the year, however lack of continuity affected their consistency which led to their finals drought extending.
BY THE NUMBERS
Position: 12th
W-L-D (%): 8-9-1 (104.3%)
Players used: 55
Played every match: 0
AFL players used: 29 (245 matches)
Ex-AFL players: 1 (17 matches)
Debutants: 20 – Max Benier, Riley Bonner, Adrian Cole, Lance Collard, Brad Crouch, Josh Docking, Brodie Findlay, Hugo Garcia, Angus Hastie, Lennox Hofmann, Dougal Howard, Luke Kennedy, Ned Maginness, Liam O’Connell, Elwood Peckett, Mattaes Phillipou, Luke Ryan, Arie Schoenmaker, Lachlan Voss, Levi Young
STAR PERFORMERS
Best and Fairest: 1st: Tom Campbell (65 votes), 2nd: Gus McLennan (49), 3rd: Max Heath (42), 4th: Tom Blamires, Hugo Garcia and Ollie Lowe (41)
J.J. Liston Trophy: Tom Campbell (13 vote), Zak Jones (11), Hugo Garcia (8), Matt Allison (4), Mattaes Phillipou (4), Seb Ross (4)
Coaches MVP Award: Tom Campbell (42 votes), Hugo Garcia (20), Cooper Sharman (15), Arie Schoenmaker (14), Darby Hipwell (12), Zak Jones (12), Mattaes Phillipou (12)
Leading Goalkickers: Matt Allison (15), Ollie Lowe (15), Lance Collard (15), Hugo Hall-Kahan (14), Hugo Garcia (12)
Smithy’s VFL Team of the Year: Nil
STAT LEADERS
(Averages – minimum 6 matches)
Disposals: Zak Jones 26.4, Arie Schoenmaker 26.0, Mattaes Phillipou 23.7, Ben Paton 22.0, Hugo Garcia 20.5
Contested possessions: Tom Campbell 13.1, Zak Jones 11.5, Hugo Garcia 10.8, Mattaes Phillipou 10.7, Max Heath 9.8
Kicks: Arie Schoenmaker 21.0, Ben Paton 14.6, Zak Jones 14.5, Ryan Byrnes 12.3, Mattaes Phillipou 11.7
Handballs: Mattaes Phillipou 12.0, Zak Jones 11.9, Darby Hipwell 9.9, Olli Hotton 9.2, Hugo Garcia 9.1
Marks: Arie Schoenmaker 6.2, Gus McLennan 5.2, Ben Paton 5.4, Isaac Keeler 5.4, Ryan Byrnes 5.0
Tackles: Hugo Garcia 10.7, Mattaes Phillipou 7.7, Darby Hipwell 4.7, Zak Jones 4.0, Tom Campbell 3.9
Hitouts: Tom Campbell 34.4, Max Heath 20.8, Jack Hayes 3.0, Isaac Keeler 1.0
Clearances: Tom Campbell 6.1, Mattaes Phillipou 5.8, Zak Jones 5.2, Hugo Garcia 4.3, Max Heath 4.0
Inside-50s: Hugo Garcia 4.9, Zak Jones 4.8, Tom Campbell 4.7, Ben Paton 4.4, Mattaes Phillipou 4.3
Rebound-50s: Arie Schoenmaker 6.7, Ben Paton 5.2, Zaine Cordy 4.6, Gus McLennan 3.4, Mitch Ryan 3.0
What went right: The Zebras’ best was simply outstanding, never better emphasised than in their 110-point Round 8 smashing of a Richmond team that sat inside the top 10 for the entire season. That came in the middle of a strong run of form that saw them pip North Melbourne, go within a whisker of beating the Box Hill Hawks in Wonthaggi, defeat Casey Demons and Frankston away and hold reigning premier Gold Coast to a draw. They also claimed the scalp of grand finalist Southport with a rollicking comeback in wintry conditions at Wilson Storage Trevor Barker Beach Oval and knocked off the Tigers a second time. Their 5-1 record by the bay is something they can build on.
What went wrong: Sandringham managed to get themselves into some difficult positions with lapses during matches. The Frankston and Southport games are two comebacks that succeeded, but there were several others where they couldn’t haul back deficits. They gave the Hawks a seven-goal head start before hitting the lead and then losing to the last kick, they were four goals behind the Suns (draw) and Swans (seven-point loss) and they gave up a few strong leads as well. Lack of continuity was also an issue affecting that consistency, with no player managing all 18 games and nobody kicking more than 15 goals for the year.
Summary: Another middling campaign for the Zebras, but one in which they were in the finals race right down to the last round before ending up six points short. In the end they paid the price for some narrow losses. Eight wins and a draw was an improvement on five wins and a draw from 2023, as is a percentage increase from 87.6 to 104.3, so they are heading in the right direction, and that win over Richmond midway through the year showed what they were capable of at their best. But the VFL list – Darby Hipwell, Tom Blamires and at times Ollie Lowe and Hugo Hall-Kahan aside, wasn’t able to make a big impact on the season. Veteran Tom Campbell easily won the best and fairest again despite missing four games and sitting out halves on other occasions.
Grade: 5/10
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