Corrigan on the 2024 Season Takeaways

Really proud of the group with the way we acquitted ourselves throughout the year.

I thought we played some outstanding footy, particularly off the back of two pretty strong defeats in the first two rounds. I thought the group bounced back incredibly well to go on a run, winning eight in a row there and we saw some great development from our young players.

I felt like in Finals the effort was never questioned, I just think we lacked a little bit of dare in the way we wanted to move the ball. We came up against two really good sides, the two that finished in the grand final.

For us we knew it was going to be a challenge, we just didn't get the chance or generate the opportunities to play our brand of football for long enough. 

Corrigan on the Young AFL Players Impressing

I think all players in some way, shape or form had their moments.

Connor O'Sullivan while being a first year player, he presents as more extroverted leader from a communication standpoint. He always has plenty of energy, so I was really impressed by what he brought throughout the year.

Lawson is the obvious one, but there are some other guys in there that made significant inroads.

Some other guys like Oli Wiltshire and Mitch Edwards who probably didn't get to play as much footy, but they certainly showed in patches what they are capable of. 

Corrigan on Which VFL Players Impressed

Marcus Herbert took another step forward as a bonafide VFL player, hopefully he continues to do that this year and puts himself on the radar for AFL clubs.

From a younger players point of view, Joe Pike who is now on our AFL list, Paddy Hughes played all bar one of two games and hopefully he takes confidence from that year into this year and continues to get better.

Tobyn Murray showed some really strong patches of footy, Darcy Edmends in his first year in the program played all bar a couple of games.

For us we had some younger VFL boys out there, but hopefully they are all still here next year hopefully they progress their game to be even better versions of themselves this year. 

Corrigan on Dan Capiron's First Year as Captain

He was outstanding again.

Angus Byrne was the captain the year before, but Cap was arguably the captain in different areas and has been a stalwart of the VFL program for six or seven years now.

He was outstanding and he has the upmost respect for people within the program, but more importantly he has the respect of the playing group and the coaching staff alike by the way he goes about it.

He has been doing it for a long time, but he champions what is is to be a VFL player in terms of work outside of football, but then working on your game as well. He has a good balance and a great rapport with the players, then his form over the last two years has been outstanding.

We are really fortunate to have him in the program and going again as captain of the footy club, because he is great with the players, great with the staff and starting to dip his toes into coaching as well. He is a great asset. 

Corrigan on the Focus Heading into 2025

VFL football always presents a challenge at the start of the year with new players coming in.

There are new AFL players and new VFL players, so there is always a period where everyone gets to know one another, establishing relationships and a connection. You can put some pieces in the program to try and fast track that, but ultimately that takes time.

You are always going to be faced with that situation, so for us it is going to be a case of how can those familiar faces make the new guys feel comfortable early on. For us I feel like we have still got the core contingent from a VFL standpoint, from leadership and those young boys returning.

Hopefully adding a couple more mature VFL players to the mix to help some of the young VFL guys, because we have six or seven new draftees so making sure we have got a blend of characters too within that program.