Tara Murray
The talent in the Calder Cannons region has been on show in the Coates Talent League season.
The Cannons have had a strong season this year and sit fourth on the ladder as the season hits the pointy end.
While the results have been pleasing, coach Sam Willatt said what had been more pleasing was the depth of the squad.
“We’ve really tested our depth over the last few weeks which has been promising,” he said.
“Against the Knights we had I think 10 or 11 changes and had loads of debutants and a few bottom agers playing and with all the disruption they still put in a really good performance.
“Looking really really good at this point and we’re just going to keep building and get ourselves ready for the fun stuff at the end of the year.”
Willatt said they’d start to see some of the young guys make the most of their opportunities.
For most of the year Hussien El achkar has been doing good things as small forward midfield players.
Hamish Bird played his best game for the year against the Knights after being thrown around in a few positions and seems to have found his spot in defence.
Cooper Duff-Tytler made his debut in Queensland was then best on ground against the Knights, due to school commitments allowing him to play for the Cannons.
The program will get back underway this week after a few weeks off with the national championships
Willatt said while it was a bit of a disruption, it was also good to get the boys back to their local clubs and have a bit of a refresh.
He has also been busy as part of the Vic Metro winning coaching squad.
Jayden Nguyen, Harry O’Farrell, Isaac Kako, Nash King and Damon Hollow were all part of the playing group.
Kako was one of the stars of the championships, including kicking three goals in the grand final.
“He’s been superb, he’s just I think there’s a point he was involved in I think 60 per cent of our goals or something at some point,” Willatt said of Kako.
“He’s just he’s done everything we know he can do and he’s showing us, it’s been pretty cool.”
Willatt said the next few weeks would be a bit of a country tour the next few weeks with a lot of travel.
They then play Dandenong and the Western Jets to end the season, with Williatt expecting to have all the players back.
“Those last two we’ll start to ramp it up for the wildcard game, nothing too different just yet,” he said.
“Everyone knows the pointy end is coming. Good performances are the most important thing.”
