SANDRINGHAM FOOTBALL CLUB SEASON PREVIEW

by Barry from Beach Road

The Sandringham Football Club is on a mission for 2006. The aim is to win its third consecutive flag - a rare achievement at the elite end of any sport. Despite the degree of difficulty involved, the Zebras are leaving no stone unturned in their quest to win premiership number ten and their fourth since striking a partnership with the Melbourne Football Club when it was announced that the VFL competition was to be revamped from the beginning of season 2000.

One of the main aspects of Sandringham's relationship with Melbourne has been the cordial working relationship and the stability of the union. In 2006, the Zebras will gain two seasoned recruits who come off MFC lists in Guy Rigoni and Chris Lamb (although Lamb did not play in 2005 after being delisted by the Demons at the end of the previous year). Their presence in the line up along with the return of the exciting Mark Corrigan who underwent a knee reconstruction early last season after impressing when he crossed from Old Haileybury, will offset the team's losses although 2005 best and fairest winner Sean O'Keeffe and premiership players Paul Kennedy, Matt Gadsden and Toby Conroy will all be missed. The fact that players of the calibre of Rigoni and Lamb are prepared to stay on and help out at the Zebras speaks volumes for the union as well as adding to the stability of the place.

Apart from the signing of Rigoni and Lamb, Sandringham’s other gains will come from two sources.

Under existing arrangements between the VFL and the Under 18 TAC Cup competition players graduating out of the Sandringham Dragons are streamed into their VFL counterpart. The alliance has already seen Melbourne bear fruit from this situation with the rookie listing of Matthew Warnock and Daniel Hughes, both of who came to Sandy from the Dragons and impressed enough to gain recognition at AFL level.

A number of teenager hopefuls have crossed to the Trevor Barker Beach Road Oval in their footsteps this year including Andrew Fleming, Scott Lockwood, Peter McGettigan, Daniel Turcarelli and the very promising on baller Shane Valenti. All of them have been impressive in trials with the senior team during the current practice match period along with Melbourne Grammar small man Thomas Paule.

The other major source of players to the Zebra ranks is of course, the Melbourne Football Club and Sandy will benefit from the Demons' decision to draft a full quota of rookies in 2006 (five compared with two in 2005). This will enable Sandringham to field the above-mentioned Warnock and Hughes along with new rookies Jace Bode, Andre Gianfagna and Shane Neaves as well as a number of the young developing Demon senior listers.

Sandringham's strength over recent years has been its solid basis of regular VFL stars headed by skipper Chad Liddell, goal kicking star Nick Sautner, Rod Crowe, Peter Summers, Ezra Poyas, Andy Biddlecombe and David Gallagher. They are all back and performing well. Collectively, they form what would be a extremely solid base for any VFL club.

The club's quest for that tenth premiership opens in a fortnight with its clash against traditional rival Port Melbourne when last years flag is unveiled at Trevor Barker Beach Road Oval. The Borough recently severed its relationship with a second AFL club in the space of less than half a dozen seasons and are going it alone in 2006. Under the new VFL rules, in those circumstances, Sandringham can field no more than 12 AFL affiliated players.

The Zebras will be up to the task and ready for the big day.