Upwey Tecoma FNC – 2022 Season Preview

Upwey Tecoma Football Club have been building in pace since the return to pre-season training from the Christmas break, with great enthusiasm across the club building towards an exciting season in 2022.

Hayden Stanley has departed for Vermont, but the Tigers have been lucky to secure the services of Gai Chuol, a handy ruckman from Belgrave, Matt Sier from the VAFA, Marc Peduto and Carmine Porcaro who have proven to be handy pickups thus far.

In men’s football, the seniors and reserves teams have been building and trained strongly throughout the pre-season campaign, with many of last seasons under 19’s players to step up into the senior ranks.

Seniors and reserves coaches Stuart Hill and Dain Howe have invested a lot of time into the young Tigers of Upwey Tecoma, where tuition has involved developing the squad and game style, with many of the teenage players expected to get a go in the seniors this season.

The women’s football side have fronted up with strong numbers again, as they did in 2022 and will look to recapture the form that took them to a preliminary final berth.

Under the watchful eye of head coach David O’Hare, the netball department have also produced strong numbers, with the girls very keen to get into a new season and see what their capabilities are.

The A and B Grade sides have been bolstered with the additions of no more than 10 players where the purpose is to improve depth.

Club president Craig Waters is excited with what he’s seen so far and believes his club has what it takes to compete with sides across all competitions.

“I think the commitment of everyone to keep pushing forward and develop as players has been really good and everyone is keen to get involved and advance the club,” he said.

“It looks like it will be a fairly even competition and we are excited to return and have a crack.”

While looking forward to what the year will present, Waters hopes to see further improvement across all teams from last season, with a chance to play in September the main goal.

“From an on-field perspective, we want to maintain competitiveness by continuing to grow and participate in finals across all grades,” Waters explained.

“We want to see the continued advancement in our playing stocks over the next couple of years beyond 2022 where we are really pushing.

“We acknowledge in the men’s football front, it’s going to be an exceptionally tight competition and it feels good to renew old rivalries with Mount Evelyn and Monbulk.”