William Buck Premier Men’s Season Preview – PART 1

The 2024 season lifted the William Buck Premier Men’s competition to new heights, with 9 of the 10 teams locked into thrilling finals or relegation races that went all the way to the final siren of the final home & away round at multiple venues across the city.

Could 2025 top that for competitiveness? Maybe! Consider the calibre of all 10 top-flight teams this season, with Old Haileybury and De La Salle replacing Old Melburnians and Fitzroy. It’s going to be another hot competition.

Let’s take a closer look at our first five teams as they prepare for opening round battle:

UNIVERSITY BLUES (6^th: 7-11)

At times last season, Uni Blues looked as dangerous as any team in the competition.

When their twin towers up forward – James Stewart and Sam Grimley – were out there and on song, it was a nightmare combination for opposition defences to deal with, and the Blues shaped as a likely finals contender when they sat 6-3 after 9 rounds.

But a serious hamstring injury sidelined Stewart from Rounds 10 to 15 and the Blues won just more game for the season (against wooden spooners Old Melburnians), dropping 8 of their last 9 as their campaign fell apart.

They were the only team stranded in mid-table limbo in the final round last year. Safe from relegation, but unable to make the finals. It spoke perfectly to their Jekyll & Hyde season.

So, for more than any other Premier Men’s team, 2025 represents a reset and a fresh start for University Blues.

New coach Matt Smith takes the reins from Guy Martyn, having arrived at the club as a boom recruit twelve months ago, only to rupture his ACL in his first contest of the season. That injury ended his playing career and set him on the coaching path.

Smith, a personal trainer by trade, will have the Blues fit and firing. If they can replicate their early season form of 2024, they can set up their campaign, given that their first month provides winnable games against the likes of St Bernard’s, Collegians, Uni Blacks, and the newly promoted De La Salle.

If the Blues are to rise back up into finals action in 2025, these are the sort of teams they will need to take care of along the way. They certainly have the talent to wreak havoc on the competition if they can keep it all together.

The arrival of Jack O’Sullivan from Koroit and Joe Furphy from Geelong’s AFL list will certainly help their cause, and keep an eye out for Jack Whitehead as a young player to watch. Jack started 2024 in the Blues’ Under 19 Premier line-up and graduated to play the season’s final six games in the Seniors.

UNIVERSITY BLACKS (7^th: 7-11)

The University Blacks enter their third season back in William Buck Premier Men’s determined to get away to a better start than their last two seasons.

In both 2023 and 2024, Blacks dug a hole for themselves but managed to climb out with some sparkling late-season form that saw them avoid relegation.

In 2023, they were on the brink at 2-7 come the midway point before storming home to win 6 of their last 9.

In 2024, they looked to be in real trouble after five straight losses saw them to slump to second last at 3-10 with five weeks to play, before they regrouped and powered home to win 4 of their last five and again avoid the hangman’s noose.

That sort of stress is enough to keep Dale Bower awake at night, but the veteran coach has been around the traps long enough to know that a new season brings fresh hope. And he’ll be hoping 2025 is a lot less stressful!

The Blacks welcome a host of new faces in their quest to return to Premier Men’s finals action for the first time since 2016, with arrivals Connor Byrne & Lachlan O’Hara (both Avondale Heights), Daniel Vardon, Josh Macdessi & Ben Matesic (all ANU Griffins), Kane Loftus (St Mary’s, GFNL), Harvey Driscoll (North Ballarat), and Zach Dakis (St Kevins) all joining the cause.

Their early fixture is a real mixed bag, so we’re going to get a good cross-section of opponents to determine where Blacks sit in the pecking order, given they start with Old Brighton (away), St Bernards (home), Uni Blues (Uni Derby), Old Haileybury (away), Collegians (home) and Old Scotch (away) in the first six rounds.

ST BERNARD’S (8^th: 5-13)

Having dominated Premier B with a perfect undefeated campaign in 2023, there was plenty of interest in where the Snowdogs would ultimately land in William Buck Premier Men’s last season.

And by year’s end, there was great scope for optimism, given they managed to overcome crippling injuries which forced them to blood new players who subsequently rose to the challenge and helped them survive in the top-flight for 2025.

Coach Steve Alessio is genuinely excited by the young group at his disposal. A tight group of ex-schoolmates hungry to prove themselves at the highest level, they grew enormously throughout 2024 and enter this new campaign streets ahead of where they sat twelve months ago.

We’re about to learn how that translates in terms of wins & losses, but given 7 of St Bernard’s 13 losses were by 3 goals or less in 2024 suggests that a few tweaks here and there, combined with natural development from youngsters in the group and the experience of a full season of Premier Men’s now under their belt, could see the Snowdogs continue their upward trajectory in 2025.

Plus, they have a couple of eye-catching recruits to add into the mix, including Alessio’s nephew, former Carlton AFL player Matthew Watson, who has been kicking goals for fun at Pascoe Vale – 130 in the past 3 seasons, to be precise.

Watson will give the Snowdogs the big strong presence up forward that they’ve been crying out for and will work nicely in tandem with Edyn Sibbald, given their complementary styles.

Established Essendon VFL player Matt Foley also arrives at the Snake Pit from Strathmore, along with Gabriel Loukoumitis from East Keilor.

And with 25 or so Under 19s players making the step up to senior ranks in 2025, the Snowdogs are building the sort of depth required to develop into a perennial contender at the highest level.

OLD HAILEYBURY (Premier B premiers 2024: Minor premiers (14-3-1), won 2SF & GF)

The Bloods agonisingly missed out on remaining in Premier Men’s at the end of 2023, losing three of their last four and falling just 1.62% short of staying up after 12 long years of striving to get there.

“When I took over, we were in C-Grade and there was a lot of hard work put in to get us back up to A-Grade for the first time since 2011,” said senior coach, Daniel Ward.

“We were very disappointed, but I believe things happen for a reason. It told us we didn’t get everything right, be it coaching, playing, or off the field. When you fall short in life, you need to look at it and put things in place to get better. And we did.”

Ward asked his group what their objective for 2024 should be and loved the response.

“Our aim for 2024 wasn’t necessarily to get back to A-Grade. It was to win a flag with our mates. Roll up our sleeves, get to work and enjoy achieving something with our mates. That’s the most fun you can have in footy.”

And they had plenty of fun in 2024, streeting the field to hoist the Premier B premiership cup with a thumping 94-point Grand Final win over De La Salle to return to the top-flight in 2025.

Ward knows his team is better prepared for Premier Men’s footy this time around and is eager to see what they can achieve.

“We probably only had two or three players over 27 or 28 years old in our premiership team. We’re still quite young, and this past year has provided us with great belief. Our youngsters are two years older than the last time they played in Premier Men’s. They have more confidence in their body and their ability, as well as greater role clarity.

“They have a decent handle on what they’re good at and the role we need them to play. We’re a far better group now than we were two years ago, when we won six games in Premier Men’s, defeating six different teams.

“From a gameplan perspective, we won’t change too much. It’s going to be more about perfecting it and doing it to the best of our ability. Sometimes simplifying things is easier for the group, particularly given we now know what works for us.

The Bloods had three players retire after the Premier B Grand Final, including ruck Lachie Treverton, who is travelling overseas.

“Jack Bell will replace ‘Trevvo’ and that’s a fantastic get for our club. It was tight for Grand Final spots as we only had one injury and Belly missed out. But he still trained with the group and was around for every game. He could have thrown the toys out of the cot, but instead he’s joining us full-time, which is a credit to him.

“Brodie Steele retired after a lot of shoulder issues. He needs a reco but will be around the club helping out. James Magner has retired as a player and become an assistant coach for us, which is fantastic.

“Hugo Nosiara has been with Carlton VFL the last two years. He has massive upside – he’s only 20 and has already turned into one of our elite mids.

“Jase Morgan was in our 2022 premiership team, then travelled for cricket. He’s back, which is great, while Ned Conway was on North Melbourne’s VFL list and will join us full-time as a half-back/wing option.”

Throw in talented duo Olli Hotton and Josh Docking, along with Lachlan Giliam from Warragul and the Bloods are going to be a fascinating watch in 2025.

And Ward is clear on what his objective will be.

“I can tell you that it won’t just be to stay up in A-Grade. If we’re going to do something, we’re going to do it properly. If we aim for the stars and just miss out, well at least we had a crack.

“We’re an aspirational group. I think they’ll come up with the right answers.”

DE LA SALLE (Premier B runners-up 2024: 2nd (13-5), lost 2SF, won PF & lost GF)

De La Salle step up to Premier Men’s for the first time since 2019 confident in the knowledge that this return to the top flight has been built on steady organic progress.

“I feel like we’ve been really patient with this build to A-Grade,” said senior coach, Nick Hyland.

“We went down to Premier B in 2019 and then had the COVID years. But since 2022, we’ve known where we want to get to and agreed not to rush it. It needed to be a whole club build.

“We got our key pillars in place. We’ve been diligent in blooding young players since 2022, establishing a strong Under 19 program and rebuilding our connection with the College. So, we’ve been well equipped and built this growth for several years.”

That growth was evident in the back end of last season, after they sat precariously at 5-4 at the midway point before things started to click and the tight losses they’d been suffering turned into some thumping wins.

“Everything changed. Our motivation and belief grew. We became predictable to each other, and our biggest strength was the evenness of our team, which sounds a little boring and clichéd.

“But we didn’t rely on superstars. Everyone played their role, and there was great buy-in to achieve team success over individual success. That’s a hard thing to teach, given that in junior footy, players just want to get the ball and kick the goals. But in senior footy, it takes a collective effort to win games, especially big games.

“We strung together eight wins in a row and just kept the momentum rolling.”

That momentum carried De La all the way to second spot and despite a couple of heavy finals losses to Old Haileybury, they earned promotion, thanks to an unforgettable 7-point Preliminary Final win over Old Geelong.

“We had a really good season, then an off-day on Grand Final Day,” said Nick.

“But the beauty of the promotion/relegation system is that you get something out of making the Grand Final. We didn’t get the ultimate prize but we didn’t walk away empty-handed either. Clubs like us aspire to be A-Grade and that’s the opportunity we’ve earned.

“Let’s keep investing and keep improving, both individually and collectively. That’s been our mantra since 2022. Constant improvement. Where that ultimately takes us, who knows? But having that mindset holds you in good stead.

“In our 2024 exit meetings, we agreed that we can’t be satisfied with where we’re at. The level and standard rises in 2025, so we need to rise accordingly and we’ve designed our program with that in mind. We’re pushing our players above their level of 2024.

“It’s always important to improve your connection between defence, stoppages and ball movement. We’ve looked at it holistically and aim to improve in all aspects. We know we rely on fitness and team defence to run out games and defend strongly. We’ll back our fitness to take games deep again in 2025.”

“Rob Amendola joins us from East Malvern, along with Nick Buffalo from Bentleigh, Vlad Stevancevic from St Kevin’s, Tom Itter from playing in Malaysia last year and Jamie Brooker from South Melbourne Districts.

“Jamie’s a great story – we’ve got a couple of people with South Melbourne connections, who suggested we might want to look at this guy in Division 2. He’s clearly got X-factor – he’s kicked 99 goals across the last two seasons.

“We approached him and asked if he’d like to test himself at a higher level and he hasn’t missed a beat. He’s been fantastic as a tall marking key forward.

“If we were going up and it felt rushed and unplanned, I would have concerns. But I feel like we’ve been really patient with this build.”

Check out PART 2 of our Season Preview TOMORROW for a closer look at Old Scotch, Old Brighton, St Kevin’s, Collegians & Old Xaverians.

VAFA MEDIA LIVE COVERAGE – ROUND 1

SATURDAY APRIL 5:

SEN MATCH OF THE DAY – Old Scotch vs St Kevin’s             

11.35am – Reserves (VAFA.com.au live stream)

1.45pm – Seniors: VAFA.com.au (live stream) & SEN app (audio)

KOMMUNITY TV DOUBLE HEADER – Old Xaverians vs De La Salle

11.35am – Reserves

1.45pm – Seniors