Coach Ferrante praises young guns and looks ahead to Doveton clash
As the Essendon Royals prepare for their round seven clash against Doveton, senior men’s coach Mick Ferrante has been praising the performances of the club’s young players.
“I’m over the moon with how they’ve come into the squad,” said Ferrante. “We have three teenagers in the starting XI almost every week, I’m proud of that and what the club, and the coaches have done, as well those who have coached these boys that maybe aren’t at the club anymore.”
Ferrante has been impressed with the contributions of Daniel Taubitz, Julian Napolitano, and James Grasset, who have all been regulars in the squad, as well as Luke Croce and Marcus Lagana, who have recently made their debuts.
“It’s always a pleasure to give young guys an opportunity,” said Ferrante. “They’re performing, it’s not token, people are playing on merit, and well done to them, but they need to carry on and keep learning and growing and continue to establish themselves.”
Looking ahead to the upcoming clash against Doveton, Ferrante acknowledged the quality of their opponents.
“Like most teams in this competition, there is a bit of finding our feet in every game and it’s been a bit intriguing,” he said. “But from what I’ve seen, Doveton have had highly competitive games. From the vision and games I’ve seen, they have some very good players that we need to nullify, and based on the results, obviously, they’re a good outfit.”
Doveton are coming off an impressive 6-2 victory and Ferrante knows that his team will need to be at their best to come away with three points.
“To win any game 6-2 shows they’re a good team,” he said. “No ordinary team scores six goals. We’ll be diligent, and we’ll be prepared as best we can for Saturday.”
With the young players continuing to make an impact and the team looking to build on their first win of the season against Beaumaris SC, Ferrante is confident that the Royals can continue to grow and compete at a high level.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge,” he said. “We’ll give it our all and see where it takes us.”