Northern Knights are making no secret of the fact that they have set their sights on the TAC Cup finals this season.
For the past couple of seasons, the Knights have been more concerned with building a game plan and developing players for a higher level. Now the aim is to take that further, according to coach Andrew Shakespeare.
The Knights finished 11th with four wins last season.
“It’s a really hard-working group of players and we haven’t swayed away from wanting to participate in finals,” Shakespeare said.
“We know it takes a lot of hard work and it does put pressure on us to perform, but playing finals is where we want to be. We have boys on the cusp of the AFL and we want to showcase them on the next level, and at TAC Cup, that’s finals.”
Shakespeare said that, like last year, this season’s squad was really balanced.
He said 18 players from last season’s squad had come back and some of the returning 19-year-olds had impressed so far.
“Matt Perry has been terrific,” Shakespeare said. “As a 19-year-old we’ll look for him to play some VFL this year for his development. He’s played nationals before.
“Jake Bradley [son of former Carlton star Craig] has stepped up and we’re looking forward to seeing him play. He had a beep test of 16.2 at the TAC Cup testing, which is really up there.”
“Charles Roberts is a 200cm ruckman whose marking has really improved.”
But Perry’s season will be delayed because of stress fractures in his foot.
Mason Blakey has been named captain of the Knights, while Luke Bunker will be vice-captain. They and Patrick Naish are in the initial Vic Metro under-18 squad.
Shakespeare said one difference this season would be the fitness of players, with the arrival of high-performance manager Anthony Pierobon.
“He was the development high-performance manager at Williamstown,” Shakespeare said.
“He has been with a successful club and he is already having an impact.”
Shakespeare said this year’s players were using last season’s draft success as motivation … five Knights were drafted to AFL lists.
“Initially we only had one [Jade Gresham] on the radar of AFL clubs but they all worked at it and got success,” he said.
The Knights start their season against Sandringham Dragons at IKON Park at 1.30pm on Saturday.
