BENDIGO Pioneers are hitting their stride at the pointy end of preseason, boasting a pair of top-age prospects in the Vic Country summer training hub, five returning over-agers, and one standout bottom-age father-son gun. We chatted to coach Danny O’Bree about all of the above, and much more.

PRESEASON

“We were probably a little bit slow before Christmas. Not that we were concerned at all, but it took us a little bit to get going. We finalised our list leading into the Christmas period. After Christmas and probably in the last three weeks we’re starting to find it a little bit more comfortable I guess.”

TOP-AGE VIC COUNTRY HUB MEMBERS

Shaun Watson
Midfielder | 194cm | 29/05/2007

“Shaun’s moved down to Bendigo away from Mildura after January. So he’s probably still trying to find his feet. He’s a big casual dude, so he’s, he’s still trying to find his best footy and I think he’ll build as the season goes and we’ll probably see his best footy at back-end of the year.”

Hunter Wright
Midfielder | 188cm | 20/10/2007

“Hunter’s going really well. Leading into Vic Country he hit the ground running, he’s been training exceptionally hard. He was probably right at his peak going into the Vic Country camp but copped a bit of a [ankle] knock just after that, so he’s slowly starting to build up now and he’ll be ready by Round 1.”

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OTHERS TO WATCH

“Jaidi Jackson-Leahy is going really well, he’s come back in fantastic nick. He’s exceptionally skilled and wins a really good amount of the footy, so I reckon he’s going to really catch an eye early on in the season. Finlay Lockhart has got some traits similar to Tobie Travaglia. Intercept marking, really good running ability. He’ll probably catch an eye as well at the start of the season. Patrick Blake has come back really fit. He had a big hiccup at the start of last year and probably just struggled to get going at the back-end of the year, but he’s come back in really good order.”

RETURNING OVER-AGERS

“We’ve got five coming back; Tom Evans, Zaydyn Lockwood, Nick Thompson, Connor Evans and Angus Scoble. They’ve had a bit of a mix of VFL and Talent League preseason. With their experience they know what’s expected of Talent League [players] and they’ve all come back in really good order. So hopefully they can really impress before the mid-season draft.”

STANDOUT BOTTOM-AGERS

“There’s a kid called Cody Walker that is probably going okay. He seems really invested in his development. He’s fit and ready and he’s a maniac at the footy, so I think everyone’s going to love watching him for the next couple of years.”

CLUB AND FAMILY TIES

“Sean Watson is a nephew of the Tarrants. NGA, obviously Cody [Walker, Richmond], and Russell Clark as a bottom-ager.”

LEADERSHIP GROUP

“We’re using this weekend as a camp to have a look at our leadership group. But Riley Dillon, Hunter Wright, Sean Watson, those type of characters are probably going to be right in the mix for our captaincy.”

GOALS

“I think just seeing if a few of our talented players pop and really start putting it together. There’s some draftable talent there, but I guess we’ve got to see it at the level. It’s probably just trying to make sure that we’re playing them in the right spots to give them a chance to really show their draftable qualities, and then hopefully they can put it together. We’ve had some really good preseasons but they probably haven’t done it at the level, which is what we’re most looking forward to.”

STYLE OF PLAY

“We’ve always played an aggressive, fast type just to keep the instinct there. I guess if we can complement that to set up and defend the ground a little bit better this year. We tend to leak a lot. Last year we sort of just had too much of a focus on offence so if we can balance that out, that’ll probably keep the team in the game a little bit longer.”

ROUND 1

vs. Tasmania Devils
Saturday March 29, 10:45pm
Highgate Recreation Reserve

“There’s still a bit of an unknown to us with our group because there’s not a huge amount of them that have got Talent League experience. That’s probably the biggest question mark that we’ve got. Again, the last two or three weeks have probably been our best part of the preseason, so hopefully we’re building into it nicely the kids bring their absolute A-games.”

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