The Under 13's celebrate their 2007 Premiership!

PLAYERS NEEDED FOR 2008

Have no doubt we welcome ALL players aged 5 to 17 for the 2008 season. Boys aged 13 to 17 should have footy experience at school or club level, or be reasonably fit from playing another sport.

Every year every club needs new children turning 5 or 6 to compete in the Under 6 competition. We have a fantastic record with this age group at the Rams, with the majority of children who try Under 6 footy continuing in the older age groups. But we recognise that many children want to try every sport and some simply don't enjoy footy. Being active is the most important thing. In 2008 we will need many 5 and 6 year olds to form our two teams of 15.

We have three Under 8 teams, Red, White and Blue, and any new children turning 7 or 8 will play in the 4th, 'Gold' team.

We need a few children turning 9 as the majority of this year's Under 8's will be Under 8's again in 2008. We have an excellent new Under 9 coach in Dean Toy who brings a considerable amount of experience with him from WA.

Under 10's and Under 11's numbers are healthy, although we won't turn away new players.

We definately need a few new Under 12's as the 2007 Under 11's had many underage players making up the numbers. Despite that the team did really, really well and will benefit from more boys turning 12 in 2008.

The 2008 Under 13's have already recruited well, with some fantastic players from other clubs having already joined.

The Under 14's, 2007 premiers in Under 13's, will need new quality players as they will probably play up in the 'Red' division. Experienced boys turning 14 next year are very welcome!

For next year's Under 15's the key will be all the current players having a solid pre-season AND picking up a few key players from elsewhere. We are pleased that four boys from other clubs have joined.

Finally, any new Under 16's for 2008 will be welcome. After finishing minor premiers but missing the grand final the team is absoulutely committed to going one better next year.

2008 Coaches

Most coaching positions for 2008 have been filled, but there are a couple of vacancies. The Under 6's will need a new coach with 2007 coaches, Andrew Simpson and Malcolm Pert, joining Craig Dixey as Under 8 coaches. We will probably need a fourth Under 8's coach in 2008.

Ex WAFL player, Dean Toy, will coach the Under 9's while the very experienced Malcolm Riddle will be in charge of the Under 10's.

Tania Spriggs will look after the 2008 Under 11's in their first season playing for premiership points and Heath Harrison will take this year's Under 11's up to Under 12's.

Ex Para Hills coach, Tony Tanner, will be in charge of the Under 13's. Welcome Tony and new players Andrew and Jack!

After taking the Under 13's to a premiership Greg Richardson will coach the 2008 Under 14's.

We are awaiting confirmation of an Under 15's coach and Darren West, who coached the Under 15's to the minor premiership in 2007, will look after the Under 16's.

We appreciate the contribution of Under 16's premiership coach, Neil Rawlings, for his huge contribution to the Club, both on and off the field, since 2004.

If you are interested in coaching at the Rams please call Andrew on 82661945 or email:
geppscross@hotmail.com

Under 16's 2007 Premiership Team

Under 13's 2007 Premiership Team

Under 13's and Under 16's - 2007 Premiers!

On Sunday September 9 the Under 13's headed to Gaza for play for premiership glory against Pooraka. Despite having lost to Pooraka twice this season the boys were very relaxed and calm before the match. Gepps Cross started brilliantly, scoring the first couple of goals, one an absolute gem by Ollie Markov from the Under 11's. Pooraka fought back in the second term and at half-time the scores were level, 5 goals 1 each. The second half was dominated by Gepps Cross, scoring 4 goals to two behinds to run out comfortable winners. Despite the absence of two regular Under 13's, Graeme and Jacob, the Under 11's and 12's who 'filled in' were superb under pressure. The boys showed over the last three weeks, with wins over Eastern Park, Athelstone and Pooraka in the finals, that when they play at their best they are simply superb! All credit to 'rookie' coach Greg Richardson too!

The Under 16's were expected to win easily in their premiership decider against Broadview. After dominating the first quarter the boys relaxed too much in the second and Broadies fought back. A quiet word fron the coach, Neil Rawlings, at half-time saw the boys do what they had to do in the second half to claim a comfortable win. Most of the 16's have toiled for four years for their success. Some much longer.
As Under 13's in 2004 they just missed the finals. As 14's in 2005 they were beaten by Payneham in the semi-final. Last year they finished 6th.

Association Best-and-Fairest count

The North Eastern Metro Junior Football Association best and fairest count was held at Gepps Cross on Friday, September 9th.

In a great night for the Gepps Cross Juniors Ben Rawings from the Under 16's and Alex Guy from the Under 15's were voted B&F's in their respective grades.

Caleb Warren was voted runner-up to Ben in the 16's and Oleg Markov was runner-up in the Under 11's. A fantastic result for a boy who has been playing football for just 12 months!

In the other grades Hayden Harrison from the 11's, Andrew Clark from the 12's, Lasana Sesay and Terrance Curley from the 13's, Peter Verigan from the 14's and Hayden Heffernan and Shaun Buckley from the 15's all polled well.

The Under 13's celebrate their win over Athelstone

Preliminary Finals wrap

The Under 13's received a shock in the four days leading up to their sudden death prelim final match against Athelstone at Fitzroy on September 2.
Four major players were suddenly unavailable. Michael had undergone surgery for a broken nose, Graeme had an attack of appendicitis which required surgery, Jacob suffered a serious head injury in a fall and Alex was simply unavailable. The coach brought in Scott from the Under 12's and stuck with Andrew, U/12, and Ollie, U/11.
Despite the last minute setbacks the team performed really well, never headed by the 'Raggies'. If anything, our 5 point winning margin flattered Athelstone. "All played well" as they say but I was really impressed with Ollie, the Under 11, who after setting up our first two goals, played all four quarters. Next week's grand finals against Pooraka should be a beauty!

The Under 15's were level or slightly ahead of Athelstone until the final quarter. A series of mysterious umpiring decisions saw Athelstone draw level and then kick the winning goal with minutes to spare. Despite our best efforts we couldn't equalise and force the game into extra time. But a terrific season from the Under 15's who werre minor premiers and have laid the foundation for a competitive Under 16's team next year.

The Under 16's had the week off after winning their semi-final last Sunday and were expecting to play North Pines on the 9th. However, Broadview staged a huge upset to beat the Pines easily in their prelim final. Our 16's will be pretty warm favourites to take the flag.

We wish both teams well in what has been our best ever year.