Jarrod Garth will remain at Keilor next year after winning the EDFL goal kicking award. 85096 Picture: DAMIAN VISENTINI
By LIAM TWOMEY
KEILOR’S Essendon District Football League season may have come to an end but the club has wasted no time locking in a number of key players for next year.
Powerhouse forward and Premier Division leading goal scorer Jarrod Garth has already committed to the Blues for another year on the back of 77 goals from 18 games.
Keilor president Craig Teal said Garth’s performance was a highlight for the club throughout the season.
“To be able to come through with the results that he achieved was truly sensational,” Teal said.
“The attention that was paid to him from every club this year, he just went ahead in leaps and bounds. He won a lot of games off his own boot and really provided that focal point that we have been looking for the last few years.
“To win the goal kicking the way that he did with the better players in the competition continually playing on him and opposition players standing in front of him to stop his run was a great effort.
“They knew that if they could stop him they could go a long way to stopping our forward division.”
Garth will play under the guidance of senior coach Mick McGuane who will again lead the Blues in 2013.
With an exciting group of young players coming through at both an under 18 level and in the juniors, Teal said McGuane was the ideal man to lead the club.
“The decision to reappoint Mick was exceptionally well received by everybody. Mick is more than a senior coach at our club. He is an overall club coach,” Teal said.
“He goes to watch our under 10s, he goes to watch our Under 16s and he gives input to all players. He will consult some of those under 16 players during the week. He will sit down with them and give them his ideas on where they can better their football.
“You can’t replace that in any other coach. His involvement at our club has just been sensational. We are rapt to have him on board for another year.”
Despite finishing seventh on the EDFL ladder, Keilor was still within reach of the top four with just one round left to play.
However, key losses during the season to Avondale Heights and Essendon Doutta Stars came back to haunt the Blues with Maribyrnong Park holding onto the all-important final spot in the four.
While the senior side’s season may have finished early, the Keilor Under 16 Division One side and the Under 14 Division Four side both won premierships.
