VFL premier North Ballarat will be without two-time premiership defender Michael Searl next season.

Searl will spend next year working and travelling overseas.

This means the Selkirk Roosters will pursue a third consecutive flag with a new-look defence, with North Melbourne's Shannon Watt having retired.

North Ballarat head coach Gerard FitzGerald said Searl would be a massive loss, having been an intregal part of the team and leadership group.

Although just 24 years of age, Searl is one of the Roosters' most experienced players with 99 VFL senior appearances.

From Leader Group Papers (www.localfooty.com.au)
Reported by Paul Amy
Full article Click here

SANDRINGHAM will go into 2010 with a new captain after Peter Summers quit the VFL last Friday.

The brilliant centreman told the Zebras increasing work commitments would prevent him from playing on.

“Yes, it’s a big blow,” Sandy general manager John Mennie said.

Summers told The Leader he had a heavy heart as he phoned president Gerry Ryan and coach Andy Lovell to inform them of his decision.

He said he had always enjoyed his time at the club, had been part of a wonderful era and made many friends.

“It was tough making the calls but you’ve just got to take the emotion out of it,” Summers said.

COBURG has hired David Newett as coach for the 2010 Victorian Football League season.

The somewhat left-field appointment of Newett – who spent the past two seasons as a development coach at North Melbourne – was confirmed by Tigers president Bill Balakis on Sunday morning. 

Newett’s CV also includes stints with the Northern Tasmania Football Academy and the Tasmanian Institute of Sport.

From Leader Group Newspapers - localfooty.com.au

SIMON Goosey says being appointed coach of the VFL Frankston Dolphins is the most exciting challenge of his storied football career.

The legendary Mornington goal kicker was told by Frankston he had the job last Thursday - three days after Shannon Grant parted company with the club.

“I’m really rapt at the opportunity,” Goosey said. “I know how much work has to be put into it.”

Goosey, 42, says he is keen to build a relationship with the MPNFL and provide a pathway for young, local players to make it to the AFL.

Bradley Gotch is Scorpions-bound. Photo: Mark Wilson

CASEY and Williamstown have completed a trade of coaches, with the Scorpions locking in Bradley Gotch as their new senior mentor.

Casey swooped on Gotch after Willy replaced him with Peter German, who steered the Scorpions to the finals this year and was named VFL coach of the season.

German will also serve as the development coach for the Western Bulldogs.

Gotch pointed the Scorpions to a premiership in 1996, when the club was based at Springvale.

He coached Williamstown from 2002-2009, a long engagement highlighted by the 2003 flag, but the Seagulls decided not to reappoint him for next season following their lacklustre finals campaign.

LATE bloomer Myles Sewell looks destined to write the next tale of persistence and determination, just like his brother, Hawthorn's Brad Sewell.

According to the hierarchy at North Ballarat, where Sewell last night claimed the best-and-fairest award to go with his J. J. Liston Trophy, at least four AFL clubs - including Hawthorn - have made contact with the youngster in the past month.

 

Liston Trophy winner Myles Sewell: a tale of persistence.
Photo: Getty Images

Sewell, a tenacious midfielder for the back-to-back premiership-winning Roosters in the VFL, has been a late developer and is seen in a similar vein to his brother, who was selected by the Hawks in the 2003 rookie draft then went on to win the 2007 best-and-fairest award and a premiership medal.

Draft expert Kevin Sheehan told The Sunday Age: ''[Myles'] story is a fair bit like Brad's or it could be a bit like Sam Mitchell's. He is a boy who played a bit of country footy and some rep footy. He has shown promise, but has matured at a different rate to others. That's a common story … in recent years.

From The Age
Full article Click here

The western Sydney AFL club-in-waiting will follow the path taken by the Gold Coast and join the TAC Cup under 18 competition next season.

Gold Coast played in that competition this year and will next season graduate to the VFL ahead of entering the AFL in 2011.

The western Sydney club will enter the AFL a year later.

POTENTIAL Warrnambool AFL draft recruit Sam Dwyer is already looking forward to the Victorian screening on October 3, just days after his side Port Melbourne was knocked out of the VFL finals.

Port Melbourne lost to Northern Bullants last weekend to miss out on a berth in Friday night's grand final against North Ballarat.

The Borough was seven goals down at half-time but stormed home to go down by just over three goals.

Dwyer, 23, was again among Port's best to top off an excellent season in which he finished fifth in the VFL best and fairest, the Liston Medal, behind North Ballarat's Myles Sewell.

The silky skilled former South Warrnambool and Geelong Falcons player said yesterday he was still recovering after the weekend encounter but his attention would quickly turn to the state screening at the Melbourne Sports And Aquatic Centre on October 3.

He said he was invited to the session a month ago after scouts registered interest in him.