Dandenong Stingrays head coach Nick Cox gives his thoughts on the club’s upcoming NAB League Boys season.

2018 FINISH: Premiers (18-1 record)

2018 BEST AND FAIREST: 1. Campbell Hustwaite / 2. Sam Fletcher / 3. Bailey Williams

2018 TEAM OF THE YEAR SELECTIONS: Craig Black (Coach), Zac Foot, Sam Fletcher, Campbell Hustwaite, Bailey Williams

2018 AFL DRAFTEES: Sam Sturt (Fremantle), Will Hamill (Adelaide), Bailey Williams (West Coast), Zac Foot (Sydney), Toby Bedford (Melbourne), Lachlan Young* (Western Bulldogs), Matthew Cottrell* (Carlton), Sam Fletcher* (Gold Coast)

OTHER FORMER PLAYERS ON AFL LISTS:

  • Selected in 2005: Nathan Jones (Melbourne) 264 games
  • 2008: Shane Savage (Hawthorn/St Kilda) 56/85
  • 2009: Tom Scully (Melbourne/GWS/Hawthorn) 31/121/0, Ryan Bastinac (North Melbourne/Brisbane) 121/40, Dylan Roberton (Fremantle/St Kilda) 37/91, Levi Casboult* (Carlton) 104
  • 2010: Tom Lynch (Gold Coast/Richmond) 131/0, Luke Parker (Sydney) 173, Dylan Shiel (GWS/Essendon) 135/0, Adam Treloar (GWS/Collingwood) 79/60
  • 2011: Matthew Buntine (GWS) 50, Nick Haynes (GWS) 105, Darren Minchington* (St Kilda/Hawthorn) 28/0
  • 2012: Lachie Whitfield (GWS) 114, Taylor Garner (North Melbourne) 34, Lewis Pierce (St Kilda) 4
  • 2013: Zak Jones (Sydney) 73, James Harmes* (Melbourne) 69
  • 2014: Jack Lonie (St Kilda) 50, Bailey Dale (Western Bulldogs) 40
  • 2015: Jacob Weitering (Carlton) 56, Brandon White (St Kilda) 10, Bailey Rice (St Kilda) 11, Kurt Mutimer (West Coast) 4
  • 2016: Josh Battle (St Kilda) 7, Myles Poholke (Adelaide) 9
  • 2017: Luke Davies-Uniacke (North Melbourne) 7, Hunter Clark (St Kilda) 15, Aiden Bonar (GWS) 4, Tom De Koning (Carlton) 2, Oscar Clavarino (St Kilda) 0, Thomas Murphy* (North Melbourne) 4

2019 AFL ACADEMY:

  • Level 2 (18yo): Ned Cahill, Sam De Koning, Bigoa Nyuon, Hayden Young

2019 HEAD COACH: Nick Cox (first season)

2019 SEASON START: vs GWV Rebels @ MARS Stadium, Saturday March 23 (CLICK HERE for full fixture)

 

Nick Creely@NCreely

It appears that former @DandyStingrays star Sam Fletcher has been signed at the @GoldCoastSUNS, a huge congrats to the former AFL Academy member who was unlucky not be taken in the draft. Smart, tough, clean footballer, who could have an instant impact. Another good story.

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TOP 2019 AFL DRAFT PROSPECTS

Hayden Young (local club – Somerville): “Hayden was in our best 22 last year and played as a half back/midfielder in our premiership side. He’s a really strong competitor and his kicking is elite – that’s his biggest weapon. He’s learning to be more of an inside midfielder instead of a half back that pinch-hits in the midfield and he’s getting better and better as he goes along.”

Ned Cahill (Mount Eliza): “Ned was our 23rd player in the Grand Final. He played predominantly as a small forward last year and his ability to find space and know where the ball is going is elite. He has really good goal sense and he’s really quick with his hands and decision-making. He’s also learning the craft of being inside midfielder.”

Sam De Koning (Mornington): “Sam played seven games last year around a few injuries. His strength is his marking and we’re looking for him to step up and be really physical with the way he defends in the back line and when he goes forward a bit this year. He’s about 199cm tall but there’s not much of him at the moment.”

Darren Flanigan@D_Flanigan

Sam De Koning standing vertical jump ⁦@NABLeague⁩ testing day

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Bigoa Nyuon (Rowville Hawks): “Bigoa is part of St Kilda’s Next Generation Academy. He’s pretty raw and has a fair way to go in his development, but he’s a great athlete with great agility and he’s working really hard on his footy fundamentals. He’ll play as a ruckman and go forward or back; he’s a pretty versatile tall.”

 

POTENTIAL DRAFT SURPRISE PACKET

Blake Kuipers (Rosebud): “Blake came into our program last year from a volleyball background. He’s played volleyball for Australia and Victoria and he’s still playing now, but his football improvement over this pre-season has been impressive. He’s about 198cm tall, he can jump, he has agility and his game awareness is getting better and better.”

 

BOTTOM-AGER TO WATCH

Kobi George (Berwick): “Kobi is an indigenous player who’s part of Melbourne’s Next Generation Academy. His ball control and ability to sidestep is exceptional and he’s very quick off the mark, but we just need to get his endurance levels up a bit. He could be one to watch.”

 

LEADERSHIP MATERIAL

Hayden Young (see above) will be our sole captain. We think his leadership on and off the ground is second to none. Ned Cahill (see above) will be our vice-captain, with Jarryd Barker (18yo in 2019, Cranbourne) and Luca Goonan (18yo, Mount Eliza) the deputy vice-captains.”

 

FAMOUS FOOTBALL RELATIONS

Sam De Koning (see above): Son of former AFL player Terry De Koning – 31 games for Western Bulldogs – and brother of current AFL player Tom De Koning – two games for Carlton.

Bigoa Nyuon (see above): Brother of former Essendon AFL player Gach Nyuon.

 

TEAM STRENGTHS

“I think our strengths will be our contested ball and speed around the contests. We want to be known to be really competitive, but I reckon we might start the season slowly. Our 17-year-olds didn’t get much exposure last year because our top-agers were so dominant, but hopefully they can come out and show what they’ve got early on.”