VFL VFL Games 2026

[dejavoodoo44]

I thought that I'd might as well start this thread, as an extended VFL squad for this season has just been released.

Number	Name	D.O.B	Position	Local Footy Club
59	Julian Callegari	7/4/2002	Forward/Mid	Wodonga Raiders
63	Oscar Davis	9/05/2002	Mid	East Lake Football Club
58	Jack Ellwood	17/02/2003	Fwd/Mid	Caufield Grammarians
61	Max Geddes	21/03/2001	Back	Melbourne Uni Blacks Football Club
51	Luke Giacometti	4/19/2003	Mid	North Shore Bombers
66	Kaden Harbour	9/26/2003	Fwd	Manly Wolves
50	Jack Kluske	3/06/1998	Fwd	TBC
53	Charlie Peters	7/26/2003	Fwd/Mid	South Belgrave FNC
54	Pierce Roseby	4/01/2002	Back	North Shore Bombers
52	Nic Shipley	25/06/1999	Mid	Terrang Mortlake FC
67	Nick Andreacchio	10/3/2006	Back/Wing	Sydney Uni
69	Harry Cameron	20/7/2006	Back/Wing	Sydney Uni
68	Angus Curry	5/10/2004		Corowa Rutherglen FC
72	Tom Forrest	14/6/2006		Corowa Rutherglen FC
60	Koby Grass	21/06/2004	Mid	Warragul Gulls (Victoria)
65	Joe Harrison	20/7/2006	Mid/Back	Manly Wolves
55	Byron Laws	17/3/2004	Back	Manly Wolves
56	Jedd Longmire	14/6/2004		Corowa Rutherglen FC
71	Raymond Murphy	26/1/2004		Corowa Rutherglen FC
62	Harrison Podmore-Taylor	3/2/2005	Fwd/Back	Sydney Uni
64	Tom Ryan	24/4/2006	Fwd	Sydney Uni
57	James Tidemann	30/8/2004	Mid	North Shore Bombers
	Khy Gibbs	23/9/2005	Back/Mid	South West Sydney Blues

[dejavoodoo44]

And I might as well give very brief bios of the players that I recognise.

Oscar Davis played a few reasonable games for our VFL side last season, but I'm not sure if he's likely to challenge for an AFL list spot.

Max Geddes is an academy product who's been part of our VFL squad for about five seasons now. He's a whole hearted player, who was probably in the running for our VFL player of the year, before missing the latter part of last season.

Luke Giacometti is a former academy player, who went to Sturt in the SANFL, with Angus Anderson a few years back. Both picked up premiership medals last season. He's a useful outside mid / half forward.

Jack Kluske showed that he was up to VFL standard last season, playing as a small forward and inside mid.

Pierce Roseby is another academy product. After missing out in the draft, he played a couple of seasons for Frankston? in the VFL. He was on our VFL list season, but I think he only played a game or two because of injury. He's a tough small defender, when right.

Nic Shipley has been a mainstay of our squad for the last couple of years. He was VFL captain last season, so probably should be again this season. Often performs better than some of our listed players, but possibly doesn't quite have the class to win a rookie spot: unless we have a nasty injury crisis in our midfield.

Nick Andreacchio was probably close to being drafted, after making the Allies side when playing for the academy. IIRC, injury struck him down at an inopportune time. He's certainly also played some decent VFL games, as a pacy and skilful outside mid / half back flanker. So, I'm looking forward to seeing if he can push for a list spot.

Harry Cameron played some decent games for the academy, generally as an outside mid. I think he's also played a few VFL games?

Tom Forrest is a former Murray Bushranger, who looked reasonably handy, when he played a game or two for our VFL side late last season.

Koby Grass is another one who's performed pretty well with our VFL side.

Joe Harrison is another academy product, who was good enough to be selected for the Allies. However the limited amount of time that he spent in the Allies midfield, suggested that he was unlikely to be drafted. Since then, he has played some quality games in the VFL, as a tough, in and under midfielder. So, I wouldn't entirely rule him out of forcing his way on to the rookie list.

Byron Laws made his way into the VFL squad via the Manly Wolves, but I don't think he came through the academy? Has played some useful games as a competitive defender.

Jedd Longmire is from Southern NSW and is the nephew of John. I think he's a strong marking forward, who spent some time on the Collingwood VFL list.

Harrison Podmore-Taylor is an athletic ruck prospect, who I quite liked when he was in the academy. In the middle of last year's VFL season, there were times when he looked very good, especially when playing forward. However, he wasn't sighted for the latter part of the season, so I assume that he was injured. Hopefully he gets a chance to show what he's capable of.

Tom Ryan is another former Allies / academy player. He was probably reasonably close to being rookie listed, but he might be one of those players, who doesn't quite have the size to be an AFL ruckmen, or the pace to be a KPF. Although, he does have strong hands and is a good set shot.

James Tidemann is also ex-academy, but he's a small forward / midfielder. I think I recall a couple of VFL games, where he kicked three or four goals?

And the final academy product is Khy Gibbs. I think he played plenty of decent games in defence for the academy, without really coming into draft discussions. Possibly because he didn't have the size to be a KPD?

So, having written all that, there's a chance that we'll hardly see some of these players. Which would probably be a good thing, as it means that our injury list is shallow. But hopefully some of those mentioned will thrive in the VFL, and maybe one or two will become AFL footballers.

[dejavoodoo44]

The fixture has also been released. We start the season on Friday, March 20th, with a match in Melbourne against Box Hill, at the bizarre time of 11.35am. Which had me checking if there was a public holiday that I was unaware of, but no, the VFL seem to think that lunch time on Friday is a reasonable time for a match. I mean, I work half a day on Fridays, and I'll still miss most of the game.

Whoever did the scheduling, may have thought that there is something particularly taxing about a Friday afternoon game (possibly the midday heat?) because we have a bye in round two. We also have another Friday afternoon game in round four, but at least that's a 3pm curtain raiser for the Giants match at the SCG.

And while I think of it, there's been some talk that ABC will be doing both radio and TV coverage of VFL games, after Channel 7 pulled out. I can’t find anything about how comprehensive that will be, but it'd be nice if plenty of games were shown on free to air TV.

[dejavoodoo44]

Oh, and our full schedule can be found here:

https://www.sydneyswans.com.au/football/fixture?Competition=7&Season=88&Round=1372