HAVING narrowly missed out on a flag last year, Oakleigh Chargers are preparing to launch another assault in 2019 with a number of top-end talents on the list. They have changed Talent Managers with Jy Bond crossing from Western Jets to rejoin the club he played for, replacing Craig Notman who has headed up the Tasmania Devils program. Bond said while the talent amongst the squad was terrific, it was about developing that talent throughout the year, rather than results-based.

“I don’t think the expectations have really changed, year on year we always just want to develop the best possible talent we can, and we’re lucky we’ve got a number of decent boys this year, obviously it’ll translate, hopefully, to success on the field,” Bond said. “Obviously it’s my job to develop talent to be draftable but you know, if you’ve got good kids and you develop them well then you win games and end up with some on field success.”

Oakleigh Chargers had 11 players drafted into the AFL last year, emphasising the strength of their top-end talent. Bond is looking forward to building on the work done with the bottom-agers last season and welcoming in more younger players in 2019. He said while there were a number of potential first round prospects, there was also a lot of underrated talent at the club.

“(Oakleigh) had 11 (drafted) last year, which is really testament to the program and there’s another odd handful again (this year),” Bond said. “There’s (Noah) Anderson, (Matt) Rowell, (Trent) Bianco, the big names that everyone knows, but I think it’s the kids that no one really knows that we get more credit for developing through the year, and there’s a number of kids coming through – (Joel) Capetola, (Lucas) Westwood, (Jacob) Woodfull, Nick Bryan, so there’s a number of kids, and you could throw a blanket over 10 or 15 kids. “You just never know what’s going to happen over the course of the year, so fingers crossed they perform well.”

The Chargers’ pre-season has been strong with both the male and female athletes buying into the values of the club and working hard over the pre-season to be best prepared for the season ahead.

“Internally I don’t think we’re surprised about any of our kids, because we know how hard they’ve worked over summer and they’ve been really bought into the program,” Bond said. “They’ve worked hard, they’ve ticked the boxes, they’re compliant … overall we’re pretty confident that we’re going to have another good crop. “We’re pretty confident about the girls as well, because I look after the girls program so I’m pretty happy that we’ve got some good girls too. “So yeah, we’re confident we’re doing the right thing and hopefully we can get some strong development again.”

One player who missed out on being drafted, but has returned as a 19-year-old listed player this year is Joe Ayton Delaney. The Vic Metro defender/midfielder has the versatility to play anywhere on the field.

“Joey’s been fantastic round the group, his leadership – he’s come back really positive,” Bond said. “The 19th position is a really hard one, you’ve gotta hit the ground running and play good football at the start of the year, and he’s worked hard over summer. “We’ll use him midfield-forward, everyone knows he can play down back so what we’re really happy with is his enthusiasm, his leadership in the group, so I really hope for his sake he does really well.”

Another new player to the list who played TAC Cup last year is Jamarra Ugle-Hagan who has crossed from the Greater Western Victoria (GWV) Rebels given he boards at Scotch College.

“We’re very fortunate to have Jamarra in our program, he’s a great kid, he’s bought in, he’s a pleasure to coach,” Bond said. “I don’t know what more you can say about him, it’s just an added bonus to have him in our program and hopefully we can add him to the list in a years time. “Hopefully we can help him develop his football because he’s certainly got the tools at this stage that indicate he’s going to be a good player and we can hopefully see that in two years time.”

Bond said the Chargers were keen to back their players in and stick to the fundamental principle of any sport – having fun. While Oakleigh would still aim to be accountable and have structures within the game, they wanted to play to the players’ strengths.

“I think we instil a lot of confidence in the kids to play their own games, I know ‘Clarkey’ (Head Coach Leigh Clarke) is very strong on individuality and flair amongst the players and we really just want the kids to have fun and enjoy their football,” Bond said. “I know the kids love being part of our program and we all work together and it’s fun and we really talk about love, and loving the game at Oakleigh. “I think Clarkey’s really instilled that in the group and we just want to make sure the kids show what they’ve got, that’s our job, so we don’t want to hold any of them back, we want to give them a bit of licence to obviously follow the team structures but also play to their strengths.”

Oakleigh Chargers’ NAB League season begins on Sunday, March 24 when they face Eastern Ranges at RSEA Park, Moorabbin.