THE U18s men’s Kingfishers squad got the taste for victory last year and they’re coming back this season hungry for more.
The team is a combination of last year’s U18 Division Two and U16 Division One teams.
“It is stronger than it was last year,” says Coach Scott Bannan.
“Last year’s U18s won Division Two and U16s lost the Division One Grand Final – so half the squad have felt the winning feeling and half the pain of losing one. Combined together we have all experienced the highs and lows and they all want to experience the highs only now.”
“I’m looking forward to seeing the younger and older boys mix together.”
Key player, Levi Bannan, says that the team this year is really tight-knit.
“I think that with how close we are, we’re going to go far,” says Levi.
“Obviously we are more experienced now, the first couple of years we were still young and growing, but now the older boys can give us tips and experience, tell us how to slow the game down and all that.”
The competition runs for two years; all players are either born in ’06 or ’07. The mentorship of last season’s players on the younger boys will be extremely beneficial for the team’s performance.
Coach Scott strongly believes that the team will make it to the finals again this season.
“At the start, we thought if we made finals it would have to be a big effort, but seeing the boys together, I’m pretty confident that we will be right up there again,” Scott says.
“It’s great for me, coaching a bunch of boys I’ve never coached before. The jokes are good,” Scott laughs.
