Emmanuel College ready for Herald Sun Shield title bout
Emmanuel College Warrnambool football captain Olly Myers is ready to lead his side out against defending Herald Sun Shield premiers, Parade College, when the teams meet in the 2024 Herald Sun Shield Senior Boys Division One Grand Final at Port Melbourne on Wednesday 14 August.
Myers, who plays local football in his hometown for the Port Fairy Seagulls seniors in the strong Hampden Football Netball League, said the school side's achievement to get this far and reach its first ever Herald Sun Shield final has generated plenty of excitement in the local school community.
"There's a heap of feeling around the school. Usually school footy doesn't get much media attention or headlines, so the school's feeling really excited for this opportunity," Myers said.
Emmanuel qualified for the Herald Sun Shield by winning School Sport Victoria's Premier League senior boys competition with an overtime win over Catherine McAuley College in the final, then faced Ballarat Grammar in the Herald Sun Shield Semi-Final last week and prevailed in another thriller, with Charlie McKinnon booting the winning goal with the last kick of the game.
Both Emmanuel and Ballarat Grammar have players in the GWV Rebels catchment area for the Coates Talent League pathway program.
"We had a few boys who play for the Rebels and [Ballarat Grammar] had a few boys from the Rebels as well last week.
"They're all pretty close mates so I think there was a lot of tension and towards the end of the game there was a lot of feeling, it definitely heated up a bit."
Emmanuel's focus has shifted to Parade, the best side from the Associated Catholic Colleges association who won both the Senior and Intermediate (year 10) Herald Sun Shield titles last year and have established themselves as a force in schoolboy footy.
"Some of the boys who play Rebels have played against some of the Parade boys [in the Coates Talent League], so we definitely know they have some strong players. It should be good, we'll see what we can do."
Emmanuel has a rich football heritage having produced AFL stars such as Jonathan Brown and Matt Maguire. More recently the school celebrated two 2023 students getting drafted, George Stevens (Geelong) and Luamon Lual (Essendon) while Port Adelaide midfielder Willem Drew is another to have come from the school. There'll be a number of players from the current crop worth keeping an eye out for in the final.
"I think footy is probably the best it's ever been at Emmanuel. We had two boys from get drafted, Luamon and George, who were in our school team last year…and we also had [potential top 2024 draft pick] Finn O'Sullivan, who moved [from Emmanuel] to Xavier College in year 10, he's one of my close mates from school as well," Myers said.
Ahead of Wednesday's Grand Final, Myers is looking forward to seeing some exciting performances from his teammates.
"I think big, big body Reggie Mast, he'll take a few, he could get up and take mark of the year. Talor Byrne, he'll just crash in as a midfielder and again, Charlie McKinnon, he could probably come out and kick the game winner again if it's close."
2024 Herald Sun Shield - Senior Boys Division One Grand Final
Wednesday 14 August, 12:30pm
Parade College (Associated Catholic Colleges) v Emmanuel College, Warrnambool (School Sport Victoria)
ETU Stadium, Port Melbourne
Full Herald Sun Shield scores, fixtures, best players, goal kickers on PlayHQ here.
All 2024 Herald Sun Shield matches are being live streamed via NewsCorp's KommunityTV platform, which is available to Herald Sun subscribers: www.kommunitytv.com
