Coach Andrew Jenner will be in charge of the Cleve A Grade for the seventh time and has had the lads in pre-season mode since early February. ‘Spud’ is well known on the Eyre Peninsula having made a name for himself as both a player and a coach at club and representative levels.
Assistant coach Darren Allen is a Cleve past premiership player and brings with him a wealth of experience having also played with Waikerie and Berri in the Riverland.
Season 2009 will be a challenging one for the Cleve A Grade who have lost several experienced players from last year’s leadership group including captain Joel Nield who has transferred to rival EEFL Club Rudall.
Kyle Jenner has returned to Adelaide and the SANFL and, only recently, Pat Jenner has decided to try his luck on the employment front in sunny Qld.
These losses have been offset by the return of ‘classy’ Kane Schubert from a 12-month stint with Ports; the inclusion of NSW/ACT state representative Jake Eames; the return of the ever-reliable ‘Jacko’ Kirvan and the inclusion of very promising juniors Tyson Jenner and Trent Duncan who both impressed during last Friday night’s trial match against Lincoln South (played under lights at Ravendale).
Natural improvement from a number of the second and third-year senior players like Jess Kenny, Rick Leonard, Jason Perkins, Travis George and Elliott Claxton along with the availability of Wayne Fosteris, Bryan Brown, Chris Pickert, (all ex-Whyalla), Andrew Eastham (Bostons), Daniel Hornhardt, Ricky Kirton, and Rob Kovacevic will make for some interesting selection decisions on Thursday nights.
Shane Duncan will make his debut, following in his father’s footsteps coaching the Bombers Senior Colts in 2009. He will be assisted by Andrew Spence who has previously coached the Senior Colts in 2003, 2004 and 2005 winning a flag in 2004.
As reflected by all three clubs which draw on the Cleve Area School for Senior Colts players - the numbers simply aren’t there to field ‘stand-alone’ teams this year.
Cleve will be reliant on the use of the player for the day by-law to field teams each week and further develop the talents of the likes of Klay Harris, Fraser Sampson, Jed Villis, Nathan Duncan, Will Bray and Shannon Jenner.
The sustainability of the Colts competition has been the subject of a couple of league level meetings and will bear close scrutiny with 2010 in mind.
In the Junior Colts, coach Lincoln ‘Slippery’ Gerloff will be assisted by returning Bomber Kane ‘Merv’ Schubert. Linc has been involved with the development of the club’s Junior Bombers over a number of years now and Kane also has previous experience with the club’s junior ranks having coached the Senior Colts in 2006 and 2007. Both coaches have a great rapport with the lads and will be concentrating on developing this very young team’s skills for future conquests.
If you are at the footy early and want to get a glimpse of some up and coming stars check out Tom Humphries, Hugh Walker, Alex Villis, Cole Gerloff, Ethan Kwaterski and Nathan Byrnes.
Email a friend