South West looking to get back on top of colts country championships mountain after grand final defeats

The South West Football League colts side is looking to avenge their back-to-back grand final defeats at the hands of Peel in this year’s division one CBH Colts Championships.

After taking home the title in 2023, coach Brett Maguire’s team has suffered two narrow losses in the top division decider.

But with a strong and experienced group of young talent coming through he’s confident this is the team to get back on top of the regional colts mountain.

“I don’t think there’s too many kids in the team that are playing just colts now,” he said.

“What we clearly see today with the colts teams is that it is, in a sense, it’s an under-19s rather than being a colts competition, because all of the kids that are running around for us this year are representing their local club at league level.

“In a sense we’ve got a young league side rather than a colts side, so that’s what’s changed a lot over the last 10 years.“

Reilly Johnstone will captain side, having featured during last year’s championships, with Maguire eager to see the skilled group of players make their mark on the championships.

“There’s lots of lots of talent across the park,” he said.

“I think the Carey Park boys in Taj Beauclarke, (Taj) Houlahan and (Rhys) Gardiner, as the ruckman, are in crucial areas for us.

“Brody Giglia from Dunsborough, who’s been getting amongst the best for them at league level.

“Young (Toby) McGee, he’s having a pretty good league season for South Bunbury so you’d expect him to take this in his stride. What I’ve seen of him and (Noah) Stewart from Collie are very similar in how they go about it.”

The side will face arch rivals Peel first up on Thursday at Scotch College, then Great Northern and the promoted Regional Districts later on.

Maguire is keen to see the team go after Peel in their opening match, with a long history between the two sides.

“It’s very competitive between the two of us, but you know we’re ultimately going after them,” he said.

“The South West’s record over the history of the carnival is very impressive, and the comp has certainly evened up.

“If you’re just thinking you’re going to win, you will get a reality check, so Peel are it and we’re hunting them, so I would like to think it gets down to us and them again, and let’s see where we are.”

Every championships match will be livestreamed via the Country Football WA YouTube channel.

Final Squad

Augusta Margaret River: Leroy Anderson, Josh Fry.

Bunbury: Dylan Scott.

Busselton: Spencer Groenenberg, Ruairi Bas, Reilly Johnstone, Tienen Murphy.

Carey Park: Taj Houlahan, Taj Beauclarke, Rhys Gardiner, Tanner Reid.

Collie Eagles: Andrew Roney, Noah Stewart, Wylie Morton.

Dunsborough: Taj Magee, Brody Giglia, Kai Vanderbeek, Taj Edmonds.

Eaton: Tyson Buswell, Taj Marshall.

Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault: Lewis Fairweather, Riley Preece, Kalani Downes, Rohan Hann.

South Bunbury: Toby McGee, Owen Scott, Cooper Mattaboni.