SEASON 2020 | Emmet Sheehan and Dave Winton return to Essendon Royals as Reserves coaches
Returning Men’s Reserves coaches Emmet Sheehan and Dave Winton are excited to continue to build on the strong, youth-focused foundation they have built at Essendon Royals in recent years.
The much-loved Royals duo are going again in Season 2020.
“One of the big aims, when we took over two years ago, was to provide a pathway to the seniors for the club’s younger players,” Sheehan said.
“It’s starting to take fruition. We have seven players from last year’s reserves squad doing pre-season with the seniors this year.
“Michael Curcija set up a good foundation when he was the senior coach and that allowed us to focus on youth. Over the two years, we’ve just about made this an under-21 team and we’re constantly bringing up new players from our junior teams to give them an opportunity at this level.”
Winton said the Reserves team in Season 2020 would be built around a core of players who have been in and around the squad in recent seasons and supplemented with a mix of new players from the club’s under-age teams.
“I think we’re fortunate to have a core of experienced players,” he said.
“Emmet and I would love nothing more than for some of them to make the first team, but we’ve got a core of a really good bunch of boys who can play and are decent young men.”
Sheehan said himself and Winton would be hands-on with the older community and NPL teams and looking for opportunities to bring the club’s best players from the under-20 down to the under-16 teams into the Reserves squad for training and possibly match days.
“Last year we had kids from the under-16s, 18s and 20s all play in the Reserves,” he said.
“It was the same the year before so we’re looking to keep that going moving forward.”
Are you between the ages of 16 and 21 and looking to play men’s football with Essendon Royals? Fill out the form below to register for reserve-team trials.
Trials will be managed by our Reserves coaches, Emmet Sheehan and Dave Winton, as well as our under-20 coach Sanjay Suri.