By Jonty Ralphsmith
Pakenham has announced its Youth League men’s squad for the 2025 season.
The Warriors will have two new players on the list and Jake Meagher graduates from the development list to the roster.
19-year-old Jye Horne joins the Warriors after spending time with Casey Cavaliers, while Angus Murdoch comes from the Illawarra Hawks.
“(Angus is) a good guard who can shoot it,” coach Braden Venning said.
“He has relationships within the team which is pretty cool.
“He’s a big body and can hit bodies
“(Jye is) a very defensive minded guard.
“He’ll hound the ball and while we were the number one rated defence last year, there were areas we wanted to improve upon and he’ll be a good catalyst for us being aggressive defensively.”
Linden Moon replaces Meagher as a development player, a natural progression for a young player in the Warriors pathway.
Luke Rawiri, Jackson Grey and Cal McNiff are the outs, with the former two key pillars and serving as co-captains in 2024.
“Everyone can be a leader,” Venning said.
“We don’t go in thinking about having a leadership group, the natural leaders come to the front and we have a lot of them.
“Jarred and Ethan Small can step up and lead by example, Riley Pollard has been around it for a couple of years , and there’s also Kaleb Beveridge and Hayden Melsen and Cooper Lanting is vocal so we have no end of guys who can help.
After finishing on top of the table in the Youth League 2 competition last season, the Warriors will have a play-in series in February, seeking promotion to Youth League 1.
It will change the course of preseason, with Pakenham needing to play practice games early to be able to hit the cutthroat games in form.
“Having a returning core makes it easier so you only have to get a few players up to speed,” Venning said.
“We definitely have to hit the ground running, you go straight into a finals atmosphere in February so it’s just about steadily building.”
Full Pakenham Warriors 2025 squad: Braden Venning (coach), Cooper Lanting, Mason Fraser, Kaleb Beveridge, Aaron Small, Ethan Small, Jarred Small, Angus Murdoch, Jye Horne, Jake Meagher, Hayden Melsen, Riley Brown, Riley Pollard
Development players: Linden Moon, Mitch Zeunert
