Hill to lead Old Brighton for a record seventh season

Old Brighton has announced their leadership group ahead of the 2023 season. 

Harry Hill will be the captain for the seventh season in a row. Hill leads the club with distinction and will equal club legend Jon Perret as the longest serving skipper at the end of the 2023 season. 

Hill told VAFA Media of his pride and honour in being named captain for a record seventh season “It is a huge honour and a real privilege to be named captain of Old Brighton. It’s a role which I don’t take lightly and feel really fortunate to have been backed in by my teammates and the new group of coaches which we have in 2023.”

“I am just as motivated as when I took over the role and I feel I am still continuing to improve my leadership skills.”

Tom Fisher and Michael Karayannis are returning as vice-captains. Both players continue to be fantastic leaders of our playing group, both on and off the field in supporting our players.

“We are all extremely motivated to achieve success for the club and continue on from our 2022 form” Hill said.

Hill’s individual performance’s were nothing short of exceptional in 2022 winning the Woodrow Medal alongside Old Melburnians midfield Fergus Borthwick. 

The pair were locked on 20 votes apiece going into the final round, with Borthwick out injured and Hill not amongst the votes, the two midfield bulls were announced dual winners.

Taking out the award from Old Xaverians captain, Marcus Stavrou. He will go into 2023 alongside Borthwick as the top two players in the game, but both with more points to prove, to themselves and the whole competition. 

Hill led the Tonners through an incredible September campaign which included himself, Tom Fisher and Petrus Olivier all reach their 100 game milestone in the Preliminary Final, in one of the best wins in the clubs 65 year history.

After beating Old Melburnians in Round 18 to book themselves fourth spot on the ladder. The would knock out Old Xaverians in the first semi-final at Trevor Barker Oval, they followed up by doing the same to Collegians in the preliminary final but unfortunately the fairytale run fell short on Grand Final day to the might of St Kevin’s. 

It was the second time in the clubs history they have reached a William Buck Premier Grand Final.

Alongside his best mate Hill, Fisher finished the season in the top three players for disposals last year and is likely to take his football to another level in 2023 in pursuit of the clubs first A-Grade pennant. 

It’s a midfield that this year will welcome back Lochie Filipovic who missed a majority of 2022 through injury. 

Linking up with Greg Hutchison, the pair formed a formidable duo before and since Old Brighton returned to William Buck Premier in 2018.

This year, he will be working alongside new coach Dan Donati, the master-coach of metro footy. Donati has had a highly successful football career as both a player and coach, having won 10 senior premierships across six different clubs in the VAFA, VFL, Eastern Football League and the Bellarine Football League.

Donati has had an immediate impact on the playing group, and set about implementing a gamestyle that he believes will take them one step further in 2023. However, allowing the playing group time to take away what they need to from falling short in 2022.

“Nutsy (Donati) has been great since coming in with a completely new coaching group and a relatively new game style.”

“He’s been great in acknowledging what we did last year and more broadly what we built over the past few seasons under Hutch and has added and changed how we go about different parts of the game which has been a really exciting challenge for the group.” Hill continued.

The club has bid farewell to Anthony Zimmerman. Arguably the most exciting player in William Buck Premier is off to the Southern Football League. 

Aidan Johnson is off to the WRFL while Max Kennedy, after capping off a terrific debut season with the Tonners played with Coburg in the VFL on the weekend, and Felix Flockhart with Port Melbourne in the same game. 

The leadership group has been extended with an exciting injection of youth. Hamish Dick and Tom Yorgey were announced as vice-captains, making it a group of four in 2023. 

Both players have been developing leaders within the group throughout their careers and are ready to take on this responsibility. Dick spent time throughout 2022 playing VFL with North Melbourne. 

Old Brighton will open the season on the road against newcomers to William Buck Premier in 2023, University Blacks. The last time these sides met was Round 17, 2014. They’ll then go head-to-head with the reigning Premier B champions, Old Haileybury.

It’s a good opportunity for Donati and the Tonners to get the year off on the winning foot “He’s got an amazing ability to motivate and get the best out of his players and it’s no surprise he’s had so much success over the journey.”

“We are pumped to start ramping things up under Nutsy as we get closer to the start of season.” said an excited Hill.

Saturday, April 15 is 39 days away. For the full 2023 William Buck Premier Men’s fixture, click here.