A Coast AFL club physio has backed new concussion guidelines and believes they could even be extended as more is understood on the impact of head knocks.
All four clubs had struggled to field colts sides over the past few years and have each contributed players to form the 32-strong Swans to enter the QFA Colts division.
“It really proves that if we didn’t amalgamate, as you need 30 to really form a squad, there wouldn t be any teams and those 30 players would have drifted off into the abyss,” coach Doug Stuart said.
After weeks of training, the southern band of under-18 talents will hit the field for their first test on Saturday as they face Redcliffe in a trial.
“It’s very exciting,” Stuart said.
“Training has been really good and some of the things we re starting to implement are starting to show some green shoots so it’s very nice.
Sunshine Coast and Districts Rugby Referees Association president Shaun McCormack, the state s top senior referee Zac Keenan, Sunshine Coast and Gympie Rugby League Referees Association president Vic Collins and rising AFL Sunshine Coast umpire Jake Edgar have all shared their thoughts. While agreeing crowd abuse wasn t getting worse, they said it was still a regular occurrence, more so at the junior levels of sport.
Here s what they said: Sunshine Coast official Zac Keenan was awarded Queensland s senior referee of 2020.
EXPERIENCES WITH CROWD ABUSE
Football Football Queensland s senior referee of 2020 Zac Keenan said he d been on the receiving end of abuse in the past, but found with the older and higher level matches it was less common.
Coach Giarrusso said a year without footy had been a pretty big hole to fill but was glad to be back and even more pleased with early pre-season numbers. Last year was supposed to be his first campaign as Caloundra s head coach after taking over from Steve Moody. To be honest, the response we ve got has been outstanding in a sense of a retention in numbers, he said. We have recruited pretty well and we re getting really good numbers on track and the standards that we are implementing are being hit every night. We re really happy with where we are at this time around.