From the Convenor of AFL, Alan Riordan
Waverley 9/10’s – BYE
Waverley 7/8A’s vs Knox Blue: Coach Fred Pawle
Score: Waverley 48 to Barker 52
Match Summary:
The 7/8 A’s travelled out to Rofe Park in Hornsby to play Barker College for the final round of the winter season, an opponent defeated by Waverley As in a close encounter earlier in the season.
The game started quickly for Barker as they won the first quarter, however Waverley dug deep and brought the game level by the final break, leading into a great last quarter of the season. Barker controlled the final quarter, kicking three goals and the game looked out of reach. However, the A’s reflected a Waverley College culture of “never say die” -kicking two quick goals with only minutes left.
Waverley set up perfectly being only 5 points down, getting four inside 50s within the dying minutes. Although it wasn’t enough, as the Barker defence was too strong to let through the game-changing goal. Waverley went down to Barker by 4 points in the last round.
7/8Bs winning by one point against Shore August 2017
Waverley 7/8B’s vs Shore: Co-coach Billy Tyson
Score: Waverley 38 to Shore 37
Match Summary:
The well talked up final grudge match of the year certainly didn’t disappoint with first placed Shore playing second placed Waverley.
Shore were eager to consolidate their undefeated season but they had to go through their biggest threat, being the dominant Waverley outfit. The Waverley boys were well suited to early games due to all trainings taking place in the cold, dewy mornings at Queens Park.
Waverley had a big challenge, mostly coming from their lack of size compared to the big bodied Shore side. A brave and courageous effort was required from the whole team if they were to have any chance.
The first quarter was all Waverley, the boys were hungry to knock over Shore’s undefeated run, which was done through ferocious pressure on all parts of the ground and their ability to cause turnovers and capitalise on the scoreboard.
Shore were able to get themselves back into the game, the relentless start produced from Waverley seemed to slow, and the Premiers came in hard. The game grew quite rough, everything was put on the line and the will to win increased. Come three quarter time, we were only up by a single point, and it had seemed the boys had put in everything already, but one last effort was required.
The last quarter had every bystander watching on their feet – words cannot describe how frantic, desperate and exciting the moments were. Huge credit goes to the back six of Waverley, the highly contested ball would not leave Shore’s inside 50, and it was a battle for metres. The momentum of Shore kept increasing and it seemed that it was only a matter of time before they could snag a goal. Fortunately, with some cool heads and good decisions, we held on.
Season Reports for 2017
Waverley AFL 1st XVIII – Coach, Matt Porter
3 Wins and 5 Losses
It was an absolute pleasure getting to know and work with each of the fine young gentleman who wore the Blue and Gold and ran out for the 1st XVIII in 2017. Our Year 12 boys showed maturity and leadership in helping our younger players to further develop their skills and understanding of the game. Although we didn’t always get the results that we might have hoped for, our boys went in hard and played courageous team footy every week. We were often under sized and less experienced than our opponents but all of the boys showed great determination and team spirit. Congratulations to all of the guys listed below on everything that you achieved this year. With 17 of the names in this list being in Year 10 or Year 9 the future for AFL at Waverley is indeed bright.
| Names | Goals | |
| Matteo | De Vecci | 14 |
| Max | Curry | 8 |
| Max | D’Agostino | 8 |
| Thomas | Tyson | 8 |
| Tom | Sharpe | 4 |
| Harry | Whitaker | 4 |
| Hal | Cumpston | 3 |
| Oliver | Hackers | 3 |
| Luca | Reiners | 3 |
| Anthony | Vasallo | 3 |
| Baxter | Oleksyn | 2 |
| Ashley | Backlund | 1 |
| Andre | Collett | 1 |
| Matthew | Higgens-Titsha | 1 |
| Charles | Longmire | 1 |
| Matthew | Miller | 1 |
| Brendan | Morrissey | 1 |
| Tobias | Renshaw | 1 |
| Xavier | Slezak | 1 |
| Isaac | Bartholomaeus | |
| Nicholas | Blakey | |
| Sam | Frazer | |
| Kyle | Goulding | |
| Louis | Hardman | |
| Stephen | Morrissey | |
| Johnny | Pawle | |
| Tim | Waring |
Waverley 9/10 AFL Season Report – Coach Emmet Pugh
What a wonderful season! While we only won one game, the boys developed so much personally during the season, making me very proud of all their efforts throughout the season.
From the first game to the last, the team started to implement the team values and put together some wonderful team plays. Unfortunately, absentees throughout the season killed the vibe for most of the match preparations. Players arriving with only 5 minutes before the game or not arriving at all was a huge disappointment. Next season I will be onto this issue and do my best to make sure we can get a full side to every game at least 30 minutes before the game. I would like to thank all the parents that helped get their sons to the game every week on time. You made this season possible.
Our team values and focus were on pressure, repeated efforts and accountability. I can honestly say that by the end of the season our team started to display every aspect of the things we were working on throughout the season. The players that showed these key values on the ground every week and showed great team play were B Preston, W Mazor, S Morrisey, Z Gabriel, T Waring, J Turnbull and many more. I would also like to thank every player that showed up and tried their best every week. I hope that these boys return next year to support the Waverley AFL Program.
With some big numbers coming through the lower age groups, the AFL future looks bright. Thanks to everyone who made this a wonderful season of winter sport.
Waverley 7/8B’s AFL Season Report – Co-coach Billy Tyson
My fellow coach, Blair Ryan, and I really enjoyed the season. We know how good the boys are and their potential of really excelling throughout the years. A good culture was built in our short time of coaching and we wish all the best for the future of the students. We had the potential to go undefeated this season, and I think the players and parents know that as well, but this can be rebuilt in future seasons.
AFL Presentation Night
The AFL Presentation Night was held on Friday 4 August in recognition of our outstanding player performances and as a farewell to our Year 12 players.
Our special guest was Michael O’Loughlin who presented the boys and coaches with their awards. Michael’s presence certainly added to the atmosphere of the evening in the gym and the College is most appreciative of his time.
On the night the following awards were presented:
5/6 AFL Gold Team: 2nd
- Best and fairest – Max Blair
- Coaches Award – Edward Kelly
5/6 AFL Blue Team: 1st
- Best and Fairest: Oliver Radcliffe
- Coaches Award: Nicholas Anderson
7/8Bs Awards
- Best and Fairest – Samuel Connolly
- Best Forward – Dylan Brown
- Best Defender – Carl Waterson
- Most Improved – Thomas Cahill
7/8As Awards
- Best and Fairest – Louis Kitto
- Best Forward – Maddox Grebert
- Best Defender – Leo Astridge
- Most Improved – Aoden Byrne
9/10s Awards
- Best and Fairest – Brock Preston
- Best Forward – Stephen Morrisey
- Best Defender – Zander Gabriel
- Most Improved – William Mazor
1st XVIII Awards
- Best and Fairest – Harry Whittaker
- Best Forward – Matteo De Vecchi
- Best Defender – Matthew Miller
- Most Improved – Oliver Hackers
