VFL Round 20 TAC Cup Round 17 20 - 21 August 2016 $3.00 Photo:PhoP to: ShaneShhaneaannene GossGoGossss (@licoricegallery)(@l(@@l@ icoic ricriri egag lleryry)) Photo: Cameron Grimes Finals fever in the air The race to the finals across our competitions is coming to a close, with the TAC Cup and Swisse VFL Women’s this weekend playing their final round, and the penultimate round in the Peter Jackson VFL to unfold. While the finalists in the TAC Cup and VFL Women’s have been known for a number of weeks, the week one finals’ opponents will be decided by results this weekend. The minor premiership will be fought out between Geelong Falcons and Dandenong Stingrays in our U18 competition, while the Sandringham Dragons will aim to break the country-region monopoly of the top four by earning the double-chance in the final weekend of the season. In a change this year, the top eight teams in the TAC Cup will earn a well-deserved break, as the bottom four sides go head to head next weekend at Ikon Park, with players given one more chance to impress recruiters for 2016. VFL fans are encouraged to arrive early to the Werribee vs Footscray clash to view a VFL Women’s final preview, as top-placed Darebin faces second side Melbourne Uni. While the Falcons have secured the minor premiership with an unblemished season to date, Uni needs to win to finish in second spot with the St Kilda Sharks ready to steal their position. The Sharks will be hoping to help full forward Moana Hope to her 100th goal of the season, with the Collingwood marquee player needing just one major to create history in the inaugural VFL Women’s season. In the VFL, Essendon has two rounds left to keep the likes of the Box Hill Hawks and Richmond at bay, with the door yet to be closed on the top eight. It is an exciting month coming up not only in our state league competitions, but across Victoria with junior finals being completed and senior finals to get underway. Good luck to all teams at the pointy end of the season. Steven Reaper AFL Victoria CEO Contents Who’s playing who 3 5 Patrick Hill 34 35 Box Hill Hawks vs Collingwood 7 Ben Ronke 36 37 Northern Blues vs Williamstown 8 9 VFL weekly content 38 39 North Ballarat vs Essendon 11 VFL Women’s 40 41 Geelong vs Casey Scorpions 14 15 TAC Cup weekly content 42 43 Werribee vs Footscray 17 Stats Central 44 45 Frankston vs Port Melbourne 19 The Big League 46 47 Sandringham vs Richmond 21 AFL Vic News 52 53 Calder vs Western 64 Quiz 54 55 North Ballarat vs Eastern 56 57 Murray vs Oakleigh 12 Eastern Devils vs Diamond Creek 58 59 Northern vs Gippsland 13 Melbourne Uni vs Darebin 60 61 Sandringham vs Bendigo 62 63 Geelong vs Dandenong Editor: Ben Pollard [email protected] Contributors: Anthony Stanguts, Kirstie Fitzgerald, Callum O’Connor Design & Print: Rainbow Graphics Photos: AFL Photos (unless otherwise credited) Ikon Park, Gate 3, Royal Parade, Carlton Nth, VIC 3054 Advertising: Rosanna Butler (03) 8341 6021 GPO Box 4337, Melbourne, VIC 3001 Phone: (03) 8341 6000 | Fax: (03) 9380 1076 Cover: Nick Evans in action for the Box Hill Hawks this year www.aflvic.com.au www.taccup.com.au 1 Television Online VFL Online Website: www.vfl.com.au Twitter: @VFL #PJVFL #VFLWomens Returns Round 21 - Port Melbourne v Geelong (Sunday August 28) Facebook: www.facebook.com/vflfooty *There will be no VFL broadcasts from Rounds 18-20 due to the Olympics TAC Cup Online Download the PLUS7 Live app to watch game replays Website: www.taccup.com.au or visit: au.tv.yahoo.com/plus7/vfl Twitter: @TACCup #TACCup Note: Channel 7 will broadcast and a Saturday and Facebook: www.facebook.com/taccupfooty Sunday final for the first three weeks of finals, then the Grand Final on Sunday September 25. Instagram: @aflvictoria Radio L VFL Live I Sunday August 21: Werribee v Footscray from 11.45am Live on Aussie digital, the Red Time Sport iPhone and Android apps, V plus online via vfl.com.au E Next week: Footscray v Collingwood 3WBC Saturday August 20: Box Hill Hawks v Collingwood from 12pm Listen to 94.1FM, online at www.3wbc.org.au or on the Tune In Radio app on your smart phone. Next week: Box Hill Hawks v Casey Scorpions Casey Radio Sunday August 21: Frankston v Port Melbourne from 1pm Listen to 97.7FM in Melbourne, online at www.caseyradio.com.au or on the Tune In Radio app on your smart phone. R A TAC Cup Radio D Saturday August 20: North Ballarat Rebels v Eastern Ranges from 11.15am I Listen live on the Red Time Sport iPhone app or via taccup.com.au O Next games: TAC Cup Finals (September 3 & 4) Girls Play Footy Radio Sunday August 21: Seaford vs St Kilda from 12pm VFL Women’s Game of the Week streamed live via GirlsPlayFooty.com - accessible on your mobile or tablet by downloading the ‘Tune in’ App and searching for ‘Girls Play Footy’. Live at the ground on 89.1 FM. Video Streaming Visit vfl.com.au to watch a full list of VFL and VFL Women’s replays from season 2016. The VFL streaming game this weekend is: Sunday August 21: Werribee v Footscray from 12pm Watch the action and listen to the call from the VFL Live team. Replays online at vfl.com.au under the MEDIA tab. Next week: Footscray v Collingwood 2 www.vfl.com.au Hill’s long climb to success For a time, Frankston senior coach Patrick Hill thought he might never get the chance to celebrate a Peter Jackson VFL win with his team. www.taccup.com.au 3 The Dolphins went through 2015 – his first season in “The other emotion was that you’re just so happy for charge – winless, and a 144-point defeat at the hands the players. They’ve stuck by the club and stuck by of the Casey Scorpions in Round 1 wasn’t the most you as a coach, and you see all the work they’ve put auspicious start to 2016. in. To see the joy on their faces and to finally get some reward for their 18 months of hard work was a great It had Hill – previously an assistant coach at the Box thing to be involved in.” Hill Hawks, including for their 2013 premiership year – thinking of good friend Austinn Jones, who coached While the Dolphins have only added one more win the Bendigo Gold in the VFL for two years in 2013-14 since – defeating Coburg by five points in Round 5 – without a win. the signs of improvement from the disappointment of 2015 are there. They’ve been highly competitive in But a weight was lift ed off Hill’s shoulders when games against the likes of Williamstown, Collingwood Frankston memorably knocked off Richmond by 13 and Footscray for three quarters but fallen away late. points in Round 3, ending a 24-game losing streak Hill would like a few more wins on the board this stretching back to Round 16, 2014. Even for someone year but said his team’s consistency of performance who had experienced the ultimate VFL success, this through the season was ahead of where he thought it victory ranked as one of his most special moments. would be earlier in 2016. “The overriding emotion was probably relief,” Hill “There’s been a lot of development over the last 18 said. months to two years,” Hill said. “The team is now “Austinn Jones did two years in the VFL without a win, getting an understanding of modern footy – our game and aft er some chats with him, I know he’s not happy plan, what it means, what their roles within it are and with that. Certainly aft er the shemozzle at Casey how what they do on the field aff ects other players. Fields in Round 1, those thoughts started to come in: “We’re trying to get people to about 50 games, when ‘What if I don’t get a win?’ they really start to understand how they fit into things “I had a pretty horrible off -season personally as well, and start to understand their own games. losing my father, and then I lost my grandmother just “We’re really excited about year three (2017), which is before the season started. To get that win then was generally when you go from understanding the game pretty special on the back of that. plan to being able to do it in an unconscious fashion 4 www.vfl.com.au The draftable Dolphins Frankston senior coach Patrick Hill gives his thoughts on the Dolphins most likely to be picked up by an AFL club this year and continue the club’s enviable recent record of having eight players join AFL lists over the last seven years. ‘The Recruit’ contestant Jackson Sketcher: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bigger change in attitude from one player in a positive way than I’ve seen from Jackson (since his early years). He was never a bad kid, but he’s turned into probably the most engaged, switched- on, hardest-working, professional player at the club. He’s been terrific with the young guys and he’s felt quite free to share his stories of how he thinks he went wrong and how he assumed winning the Morrish Medal (alongside Dyson Heppell in 2010) would guarantee him getting draft ed.” Ben Cavarra: “I think his game’s gone to another level this year.