Senior club profile: Sawtell Toormina Saints

In this edition we look at the Sawtell Toormina Saints who are the most successful club in the League’s history.

HOW IS 2020 SHAPING UP? (Matt Flynn, President)

It’s been a great pre-season with great numbers. The club is in a strong spot with some handy recruits in the senior men’s and senior women’s.

We welcome back Brandt Lee as senior coach for 2020. Lachlan Draper and Matt Anderson will continue their roles as Reserves and Under 17 coaches, while former coach, captain, and president, Mick Britton is the new senior women’s coach.

Best of all, our home ground has 200lux lights so we can now use the whole field for training and play night games!

HOW IS PRE-SEASON GOING?

Overall, pre-season has been going great! We started all the way back in November and had brilliant numbers straight away, with the squad of the men’s and women’s teams continuing to grow. It’s always great to see returning players come back but even better we have had a lot of fresh faces around the club and not only we are all surround by such great talent but by such great people too.

Our hard working committee have brought more sponsors to the club this year along with our major sponsor, the Sawtell Hotel, whose hospitality we appreciate all year round.

All in all,

MEN’S TEAM PROFILE

“I’m very excited to see how the senior men perform this season with the young core group having the experience of last year’s full season in the top grade under their belt. These guys will get top shelf support from the great leaders and returning premiership players.” Brandt Lee, Coach.

WHO’S LIGHTING UP PRE-SEASON/WHO’S ONE TO WATCH?

There hasn’t been one or two individual players who have been lighting it up alone, as everyone who has been coming to training has been putting in a lot of hard work. We’ve focused on our fitness a lot over the pre-season and everyone continues to improve and smash their time trials from before Christmas to now.

BIG INS

• Jake Spackman (Gunnedah Bulldogs)
• Dick Kestles (Gunnedah Bulldogs)
• Angus Elder (Darwin)
• Aaron Boatfield (former premiership player)
• Todd Matthews (former premiership player)
• Ryan Wooley (former premiership player)

BIG OUTS

• Leif Stuart (Nambucca Valley Lions)
• Luke Field (Bathurst)
• Pat Myles (Melbourne)

WOMEN’S TEAM PROFILE

“Only the fit are fearless so we’ve placed a lot of emphasis on building that strong base. This allows us to focus on doing the one percenters more consistently and for longer.” Mick Britton, Coach.

WHO’S LIGHTING UP PRE-SEASON/WHO’S ONE TO WATCH?

Starting off the season strong with a lot of women at preseason training. Overall the team is very focused and bringing a lot of energy to every training session. Vienna Schoeffel and Bec Minichilli are ripping it up on the track, also watch out for Binx Jade and Ash Price in their first season of AFL.

BIG INS

• Bec Minichilli (returning)
• Binx Jade
• Ashley Price

BIG OUTS

• Ahlani Eddy (Coolangatta Tweed)
• Jen Hoyle
• Kacee Uikelotu
• Keira Basset

The Sawtell Toormina Saints can be contacted at sawtellafl@hotmail.com if you would like to connect with the club.