Hillside has had an early off-season win, with two young guns committing to the club.
The Essendon District Football League outfit has signed Western Jets duo and Sharks juniors Jake Bertollo and Brandon Coletta.
Coletta , a powerful forward, played 10 games for the Jets last season and booted 13 goals, his best haul coming in round nine when he kicked a bag of five against Geelong Falcons.
Bertollo was a member of the Jets’ 2015 leadership group, playing in nine games with the TAC Cup outfit as well as four development league games in the VFL with Williamstown.
The pair will be joined by fellow young gun Jordan Sinclair, who has crossed over to the club from Ballarat Football League side Melton South.
Preparing for his second season in charge, Hillside coach Steve Burns says he’s rapt to have signed up the young talent.
“We obviously had Brandon and Jake at the club as juniors and we’re looking forward to getting Jordan in the group,” Burns said.
“He’s a forward who can play back as well, which makes him a great pick-up for our squad.”
Hillside is also expecting to have young gun Jackson Volpato available for some games during the 2016 season. Volpato, who’s also a former Western Jets and Sharks junior, has signed on to play at VFL club Coburg but will be able to pull on the Hillside jumper when the fixture allows.
The Sharks are coming off a tough year in the EDFL’s division 1 competition.
It was a season marred by terrible injuries.
When they did have their full side on the park, though, Hillside proved to be ultra- competitive with all oppositions.
While admitting there were still plenty of positives from the year, Burns said his young side would need to make the most of its opportunities in 2016. “Last year, there was a new coach, a new game plan and a lot of new players,” he said.
“Then there were a lot of injuries, and that really made the first half of the year tough.
“The second half was pleasing, but we still didn’t win a lot of games.
“The boys are going to have to learn pretty quickly that we need to take our chances when they’re there because you don’t always get that many.”
