Healesville Season Preview

Men’s Football

In 2023, Healesville will be looking to play more consistent football. Last year, it was evident that they could match it with anyone on their day, as the cliché goes.

This is true though as they managed to beat the top 4 sides all once, losing to them all twice.

They managed to finish 5^th with a 9-9 record.

They had some fantastic wins and had some reality checks, in what really was a mixed bag of a season.

They started reasonably well and fell away a bit before steadying, then ultimately narrowly missing out on playing finals.

They managed to score 68 points a game, conceding roughly 82 per game, a stat-line they would hope to flip.

Despite not being a high scoring team, Max Donegan booted a massive 61 goals, including 11 against Belgrave back in Round 3. Sam Gebert slotted 32, a smidge under two per game.

Both Donegan and Gebert made team of the year.

Healesville were ranked second in marks with 82.6 per game, including 17.9 intercept marks (also ranked second).

Hitouts was another category Healesville excelled in, however, they couldn’t take much advantage of hitout dominance, recording only 40 inside 50s per game (ranked 6^th).

If they can improve their clearance work, then they could be a much more dangerous side.

Healesville will be an interesting watch in 2023, as they are definitely a side capable of making finals, especially if they iron out of some of their inconsistencies.

 

Women’s Football

Healesville will be looking to back up their superb 2022 form; a season that saw them make the Grand Final. Unfortunately, Upwey Tecoma stood in their way.

They enjoyed many demolition jobs last year and they will be keen to make the Grand Final again and exact a better result.

They finished second on the ladder last year with a 12-2 record. Last year it was a combined division with conference 1 & 2 teams all playing against each other. The fact that Healesville went 6-2 against conference 1 teams shows how incredibly strong their team is.

Both losses were against Upwey Tecoma, with the second only a four-point deficit.

Healesville was on par with Upwey Tecoma with regards to scoring and conceding goals too, with only a negligible difference between the two sides, stat-wise.

A big part of the reason they scored plenty of goals in 2022 is their strong forward line with the goal kicking headlined by Danielle Carrucan (32 goals) and Perry Byron & Jaimee Petersen kicking 14 each.

Carrucan and Byron both made team of the year as did Paula Pavic, whilst Amy Frazzetto also had a great 2022 campaign.

Expect the red and white to be back up there again in 2023, fighting tooth and nail for the Premiership.

 

Netball

Healesville be looking for some improvement in 2023 and to get some continuity after they moved to Premier Division B Grade after Round 5, replacing Woori Yallock’ s B Grade team.

They didn’t manage to win any games, but they showed fight against Berwick Springs, Belgrave and Gembrook Cockatoo, with much smaller margins coming out of those games.

Bek Breukers scored 109 from 11 games, plus another 3 in D Grade, whilst Chelsea Bouma shot 71 goals from 17 games.

Brooke Erickson slotted 50 from five games, before playing for Powelltown for the rest of the season.

I don’t think there will be too much of a weight placed on the win and loss column for Healesville this year, as they look to improve and gel as a team.

They were competitive a few times and early last season and perhaps they might improve on that and turn a few of those games into wins.

 

Written by Jordan Peeler