Villi’s U18s Match Report – Preliminary Final

UNDER 18s

The Under 18s had a loss in our Preliminary Final against Sturt on Saturday, losing another tough, low-scoring encounter by 14 points.

We started extremely well, kicking with a good breeze, showing some good ball movement and a very direct brand of football, kicking the first four goals of the match.

The Blues wrestled back control of the footy in the latter half of the quarter, and we took a 15-point lead into quarter-time.

Sturt’s turn with the breeze, and they were a little inaccurate, but our defence held up well, and we were able to kick a goal into the wind and held a narrow 6-point lead at the main break.

Our turn with the wind in the all-important third quarter, and we played some very good footy, but unfortunately, we were astray with our kicking, having seven shots on goal for just the one goal, five behinds – still, we had an eleven-point lead as we headed into the last quarter.

Kicking the first goal of the term was a huge bonus, but Sturt immediately answered, and from there, we defended territory for most of the quarter as Sturt gained ascendancy around the clearances and went forward regularly – when Sturt kicked out to a 14-point lead, it looked lost, but the players weren’t done, and the ball then lived in our half of the ground, but we were not able to penetrate Sturt’s numbers, and our season was finished. The character shown by the boys was excellent and a good sign of things to come for our club.

Always tough to end on a loss, but although we didn’t play our best footy, we were always in the game – our defence was tested all day, and Lachie Marshall-Bates and Mitch Harris were excellent defenders, repelling many attacks, and Zane Peucker, Jack Cook, and Lachie Sands battled hard in our midfield, and Jack Leys and Jake Hall gave us some run from our wings and found a bit of the ball as well

Being my final report for the year, I just wanted to thank the Club for giving me the privilege of coaching the Under 18s – something I really appreciate and love doing. I am helped every day by our line coaches Dean Kerrison, Mark Furler, Ben Hall and Jon Simpson, our high performance coach Liam Galanti and our runner Ethan Haylock. Kym Matthew keeps match day running smoothly and we have a large group of dedicated medical and support staff who all make sure things run smoothly.  Darren Hams in his Talent Management role continues to provide amazing support and counsel and Dave Couzner, Sam Jacobs and Matthew Goldsworthy were brilliant in their communications and support for the under 18 program.

Finally, a big thank you to the players and their parents/caregivers. We played 49 players throughout the year and we had some great games with many highlights – Jack Cook winning the McCallum Tomkins Medal, Jack Cook and Zane Peucker playing State Under 18 Footy, Jack Cook and Jevan Phillipou playing League footy, another 10 players playing Development grade level and the whole team getting the experience of preparing for and playing 2 finals against high-quality opposition. We saw great improvement with many players and this wouldn’t be possible without their dedication and willingness to really commit to developing their footy.  The support that their parents and other caregivers provide is also significant and much appreciated.

There is s still a few things happening for our players – best of luck to the boys selected for the Futures game on SANFL Grand Final day – Mitch Harris, Jack Marks, Jensen Frantz, Jack Leys and Blake Karpany and of course Jevan Phillipou, Zane Peucker and Jack Cook have all been invited to AFL Combines so we wish them well as they prepare for that.

Looking forward to 2026!

Shane Reardon – U18 Coach