UTS AFC Bats set sights on September
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Written by David Redden
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Part 1: Women’s Program
Miguel Limson, Womens Premier Division Coach
Current Ladder Position: 2nd, 3 wins and 0 losses
Recent result: 26-point win vs. Manly Warringah Wolves
Next match: vs. UNSW-ES Bulldogs (12:45pm, Waverley Oval – Saturday April 29)
The Bat’s Premier Division Women’s team have commenced the 2023 season in ominous form defeating two of last year’s finalists (North Shore and Manly) in convincing fashion along with a win against the Macquarie University Goannas. This weekend in a local derby the Bats welcome UNSW-ES Bulldogs (1-1 with a Bye) to Waverley Oval seeking to make it four wins in a row to start the season.
When asked to rate the UTS Bats Premier Division team’s performance in season 2022, Womens Premier Division Coach Miguel Limson stated that “I think it came as a massive shock to the competition. Before the 2022 season, our Premier Division side’s best record was 3 wins in a season.
“However, it wasn’t a surprise to us. Our goal was that we wanted to push for finals and be competitive, we narrowly fell short by percentage only which gives us something to work towards moving forward. In 2022, we proved that we are competitive and not just filling numbers in the competition. We mean business.”
Miguel was very clear in stating the ambitions for the women’s program in 2023; “The goal that’s been set is that we don’t just want to make finals. We have added depth to our squad this season in both Div 1 & Div 3, and our mindset is to go all the way and taste a premiership in 2023. We have a good mix of established players, recruits and young pathway players including eight young AFL Club Academy players, up from four Academy players in 2022.
“To achieve our goals, we have to work extremely hard, execute our plans and continue our development”.
Miguel was happy to point out some players to watch for this season; “We have managed to secure the services of Ella Parker, who played a couple of games for Southern Power last season. Ella is one of the top prospects in the Swans Academy at Under 17 level.
“The investment in our pathway – and the fantastic work of the junior clubs and the Swans Academy – has seen a number of young girls transition into our Premier Division team seamlessly including Imogen Brown (Maroubra Saints) and Ruby Reid (Moore Park Tigers) both who received rising star nominations last season and are in the Swans Academy. Our women’s development coach Kelli Nolan also deserves a lot of credit for that.
“We are proud that our home-grown girl, Grace Hill, was picked up by the GWS Giants AFLW team and expect to see a few more Bats playing AFLW in the coming seasons.
“As a result, we have also seen a number of players from outside Sydney come to join us to further develop their football at a higher level including former Cardiff Hawks rover and former AFLHCC Best & Fairest winner Danika Spamer and talented ruck/ forward April Devine from Coffs Harbour. Our focus was to attract and develop talented players in the 18-22 years of age bracket for sustainable success.
In season 2023, Miguel stated that the UTS Womens’ leadership group will be skipper Julia Georos, ex-VFL player Mel Lindsay and Kaitlin McCaffrey. “They all bring their own leadership skills to our playing group. Our goal is togetherness, you don’t win premierships from individuals, you win them all 21 players playing their role, and celebrating each moment on the way to a premiership”.
Kevin Dyson provided some insight into Miguel Limson; “he is one of the most diligent coaches I’ve ever seen and worked with. I think he is going to be very successful”.
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Part 2: Men’s Program
Kevin Dyson, Mens Premier Division Coach
Current Ladder Position: 6th, 1 wins and 1 loss
Recent result: 3-point win vs. Manly Warringah Wolves
Next match: vs. UNSW-ES Bulldogs (2:20pm, Waverley Oval – Saturday April 29)
The Bat’s Premier Division Men’s team have commenced the 2023 season with a tough challenge losing to North Shore at Gore Hill before bouncing back following a Bye to defeat the previously undefeated Manly Warringah Wolves in Round 3. This weekend in another challenge the Bats face off against last year’s Premiers UNSW-ES Bulldogs (2-1) at Waverley Oval.
Former Melbourne and Sydney midfielder Kevin Dyson has taken over the reins as Coach of the UTS Bats Premier Division Mens side. Dyson brings a wealth of playing, coaching, relationship building and leadership experience to the Bats.
Kevin outlined his football journey in AFL Sydney and his coaching philosophy; “I had a lot of mates in AFL Sydney when I finished with the Swans. I remember watching games at Trumper Park, and I love the tactile nature of watching footy there. I drifted back into coaching my son at Easts Juniors, from Under 6s all the way through to Under 19s. It was the better part of 15 years coaching, and I saw the good, the bad, and on some occasions, the ugly.
I also experienced the development of some very talented players. The reason we were successful is down to one thing, which relates to my own coaching philosophy; culture. Growing up as a kid in Melbourne, all of the players, coaches and parents just loved football, so what we tried to create was the same kind of culture; immersive and creative, and to a large extent, I believe we were successful. We want a community of people completely immersed in our football club. Sydney footy has significant challenges with playing and training facilities, so overcoming some of these challenges are key to being successful as a club”.
Kevin spoke about the Bats’ ambitions in 2023 and the keys to achieving their goals; “We are still figuring each other out. When I arrived I looked at the platform that has been built and what needs to change.
“Creating culture is very difficult to build, but this a major goal for me and us. Our ambitions are to build our culture; I don’t have any secrets to doing this, but the players are clearly buying in to what we are developing and continuing to grow. We need to be more consistent and compete four quarters to earn more respect across the competition. With this in mind, we put the group through a tough pre-season Strength and Conditioning Program under the guidance of the UTS Sport which we hope will hold the players in good stead.
“The club has worked hard in recent seasons and in particular this off season to build depth in the playing group and are proud to have developed a number of U19s who are now looking to break into Premier Division team. We are working on enhancing the culture and standards within the group. As part of this plan, we have 3 co-captains this season who represent the qualities we want as a team: Xav Barry-Murphy (Effort), Jack Calabro (Contest) and Tom Borillo (Commitment).
“We are also proud to have Josh Lee (GWS Giants) and Nick McGill (Sydney Swans) in the respective VFL squads, as well as Bili Robertson (Swans U19 Academy), and look forward to these boys passing on the elite AFL club standards with our playing group.
Kevin Dyson spoke about some Bats players to watch out for in season 2023: “I would keep my eye in Louis Pribula, he’s a left-footer, very quick. Love this kid, he’s just come through the junior system at Canada Bay and our Under 19s program, I think he’s going to be a very important player for us. He also has star material written all over him.
We’ve also got another young player named Damien Ryan, he’s another UTS student and Canada Bay Cannons product, he’s still under 19, and I think he is going to be a very good player for a long time. In talking senior recruits, we have picked up Harry Lahey from Uni Blacks in Melbourne, quality person and player. Will Devlin, who’s come to us from Echuca, and Sam Herbert from Albury Tigers via the Figtree Kangaroos. Finally, I would keep an eye on Ash Backlund, who is super-fit and could be an impactful player in the competition.
Kevin Dyson was very clear in talking about how important the club’s continued development of its junior pathway and under 19’s program is to the ongoing and sustained success at the Bats:
“As someone who has coached at junior, youth and Swans Academy level, I was thrilled to see the focus the club has on youth development and its pathway. The Club provides genuine depth in the support for the pathway as players transition from junior clubs into our football club, to UTS the University and into work. It’s not just about developing football talent, it is being part of a program that can support young men and women in their education, careers & beyond. For example, some of our partners are offering internships to our players.
“The inaugural UTS Bats Youth Academy in late last year was a major success insofar that the club now has over 40 players in the U19s squad. We currently have a good crop of young players from junior pathway clubs Moore Park Tigers, Maroubra Saints. Josh Ralph, Maddox Grebert & George Boyd – all UTS Elite Athlete Program Scholarship holders – are some of the young guns in the Under 19s who have a big future at the club.
Kevin Dyson spoke to us about a charitable organisation that UTS Bats are involved with in partnership with the Terrigal Avoca Panthers on the Central Coast:
“The CCKIN clinic was an amazing experience for the Mens & Womens playing group and hopefully for the local community.
We raised approximately $1200 for CCKIN and had 60 local young boys and girls coached in an AFL clinic for 90 mins.
All supported by the Terrigal-Avoca Panthers. Amazing community club. Mitch Ede from the AFL brought the big kick along as well.
This link to Toby’s Gift: https://www.cckin.com.au/news-and-events/tobys-gift will show you more about this amazing charity and these two stoic and inspirational women. Culture is built from the ground up. These women embody all of the traits I hope we as the Bats can show in 2023. That’s culture”.
We wish the UTS Bats all the very best for the upcoming season and beyond.
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