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It is now over a month from our last game – that fateful Under 19 grand final. It has taken a while to digest the result and write a report, but without wishing to reopen old wounds, here it is.
The Under 19’s took on University Blues in the Division 2 grand final at La Trobe University Oval.
Wet, windy and cold conditions greeted players and spectators. The boys took the field with a measure of determination and confidence. To trail by just 21 points at quarter time after kicking into a such a strong wind wasn’t a bad result.
Old Camberwell dominated the game after quarter time. Unfortunately, kicking one goal eight in the second quarter didn’t help the cause, but a brilliant third quarter into the wind saw us trail by only three points at the final break.
Twice we led by eleven points in the last quarter, and were still five points up with seconds to go.
Unfortunately, a free kick was awarded to our opponents 70 metres from goal with two seconds left on the clock. In extremely controversial circumstances, a 50-metre penalty was applied, and the resultant goal from 20 metres out meant the game was lost by one point.
As you can imagine, this was a devastating way to lose a grand final, and players, coaches and supporters were understandably shocked and upset. As a club we are very proud of the way they conducted themselves in the immediate aftermath of the game, I know many other clubs would have been far less restrained.
Given the questionable nature of the 50-metre penalty, the club spent considerable time corresponding with the VAFA in the following week. By the Wednesday the VAFA had advised that in its view the 50-metre penalty was correctly applied, but even if the umpire had made a mistake, the grand final result would not have been overturned. Very disappointing (but somewhat predictable). I would like to thank our secretary, Jim Smith, for the huge effort he put into arguing our case with the VAFA that week.
As you may have seen, the end of the game did attract some media attention. The VAFA chose to address this through the issue of a Press Release on that afternoon.
Unfortunately, the result clouds what has been a fantastic season for our Under 19’s. Congratulations to our coach Al, team manager Trevor, and all our players for their outstanding efforts. Let’s aim for one better next year.
That wrapped up the onfield events for 2024. We then held a fantastic Presentation Night on Thursday 26 September where the efforts of our players and support staff were duly recognised.
Further congratulations to Sam Woods who won the league Under 19 best and fairest award, and to Harry Laukens who won the Premier B league goalkicking award.
Following the retirement of long serving coach Anson Brownless and assistant Tim Killlworth, whom I wrote about in my previous newsletter, I am pleased to announce that we have appointed Neil Connell (Codge) as our new coach, and Hamish McIntosh as an assistant. Below explains a little of their background, suffice to say we are delighted to welcome them both into these new roles.
Gavin Powell
President
We are delighted to announce Neil Connell as Old Camberwell’s new senior men’s coach. Neil brings with him a wealth of coaching, administrative and playing experience in the AFL community / footballing landscape.
Neil’s playing career included captaining Collingwood under 19’s, being a VFL premiership player at Werribee, a premiership player at both North Heidelberg & Bundoora (NFNL), and a representative in the Victorian Championships winning team and premierships with Riddell in the RDFL.
Neil’s coaching career includes North Melbourne Development Coach, Northern Knights Head Coach (2005 NAB League - Coach of the year) and Bundoora (NFNL) where he was recognised as the AFCA Northern Region Senior Coach of the year in 2001. Neil previously spent 16 seasons at North Melbourne Football Club, including the key role of Player Development Manager in the later years. He was an assistant coach at Old Scotch in 2022 and 2023 and an assistant coach at Old Camberwell in 2024. Neil is currently the Academy Coach and Head of Football at Camberwell Grammar.
Neil will be joined by Hamish McIntosh as a new assistant coach. Hamish played AFL football for both North Melbourne and Geelong, and has since been involved in assistant coaching roles at various clubs.
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