Coach: Paul Hudson (second year)
Captain: Trent Dennis Lane (first year)
2015 finish: 3rd
2015 best and fairest placings: 1. Clint Jones / 2. Mitch Brown / 3. Darren Minchington
Last premiership: 2006
Alignment: St Kilda
Boasting a balanced mix of VFL-listed experience and young St Kilda talent, the Zebras shot up the ladder in Paul Hudson’s first year as coach to defeat Collingwood by seven points in a semi final and then fall just seven points short of the Box Hill Hawks the next week. Now, the disappointment of a campaign that ended agonisingly short of a Grand Final berth has been compounded by the departures of three key 2015 pillars.
Clint Jones, the competition’s leading disposal-winner last year, has left to play in the WAFL along with Adam Cockie, who departs after two years as club captain and best and fairest awards in 2013 and 2014. The third big loss is 2015 Team of the Year centre half forward Mitch Brown, fittingly rewarded for regular match-winning form when drafted by Essendon.
These departures will be somewhat offset by a group of promising signings. Previous AFL experience arrives in the form dynamic former Geelong forward George Burbury and ex-North Melbourne defender Mitch Wilkins. 2015 Sydney rookie Sean McLaren will boost Sandringham’s tall stocks, while the retention of key defender Tom Simpkin after being delisted by St Kilda is a bonus.
The club’s strong links with the Sandringham Dragons sees Nick Pavlou and Theo Thompson join the list, while hard-nut Kade Answerth – best-on-ground in the Oakleigh Chargers’ TAC Cup premiership win last year – should be ready to play straight away. 2015 Tasmanian State League Team of the Year forward Julian Dobosz will add goalkicking power to a front six now without Brown and Ahmed Saad.
The Zebras finished second after the home-and-away rounds but surprisingly didn’t rank anywhere near as high in many key statistical areas. Instead, the strength of Paul Hudson’s team was in using heart and football experience to stage regular late-game comebacks, winning six matches by 15 points or less. The test in 2016 will be whether the new core group at Sandringham can develop the same traits.
Ins: Joe Fisscher (Casey Scorpions), Julian Dobosz (Hobart City), George Burbury (Mansfield), Mitch Wilkins (Norwood), Kade Answerth (Oakleigh Chargers), Jye Lloyd (Rye), Nick Pavlou, Theo Thompson (Sandringham Dragons), Tom Simpkin (St Kilda), Sean McLaren (Sydney Swans)
Outs: Mitch Brown (Essendon AFL), Peter Shakallis (Old Haileybury), Clint Jones (Perth), Malcolm Neiwand, Alex Spencer (Port Melbourne), Adam Cockie (Subiaco)
Membership: Everything you need to know about supporting the SFC in 2016 can be found here - http://sandringhamfc.com.au/membership-categories.aspx