By Nicholas Creely
The Sandown Cobras officially launched their 2017 season campaign on Saturday night as they look to put a horrid few years behind them.
In what has already been a tough off-season for the club, the Cobras are attempting to change their image and culture and go in a new and exciting direction.
Several announcements were made on the night, including the new 2017 Executive Board, the 2017 senior captain and club coaching staff.
Cobras’ chairman Zain Machfud is adamant that the club is heading in the right direction despite a rather underwhelming amount of players currently at the club.
He believes off-field they are making all the right moves, but without players the club is difficult to run for a variety of reasons.
“In terms of our senior side, we are looking strong – with a bit of turmoil last year we’re feeling the pinch a bit this year, kind of a roll-on effect,” he said.
“We’ve had a bit of a turnover on our list in terms of players who’ve been good clubmen and a life-member has also moved on – we were looking to field three sides but at this stage we can only run two – the numbers are not where we want them to be.
“We have a new board and direction and we’re steady off-field – we’re modernising how we do things, so things like social media engagement and in terms of how we deal with the press, but we need players.
“Our senior coach is one of the best I’ve dealt with in my time in footy, but we just need some cattle to work with – we’re doing all the right things off-field, but we need the players there.”
The club has already announced that they will be coach by Ange Sammaratino in 2017, with Simon Foster to be his assistant. In the Reserves, Matthew McCormick takes over the reins with Phil Dickson as the assistant.
McCormick is a former player of the club, having represented the Cobras in 114 senior games, and will be a handy addition to their staff, while Phil Dickson will also take up the duty of Director of Football.
The Cobras will be lead into battle in 2017 under the captain Matthew Dickson, a star stalwart of the club who can guide them through a tough phase.
The Cobras have added Beau McLean (Gembrook), Shane Scandolera (Tooradin) and Kyle Timms to their roster in 2017.
They will kick off their season with a clash against Lyndale on 8 April at Barry Powell Reserve.
New player inquiries can be made to sandowncobrasfc@gmail.com or by calling Senior Coach Ange Sammartino on 0434 615 193.
