The J5 Maroon team of 2017 brought together players from a few different 2016 teams and a few players new to Rugby.

We had a lot of kids come up from J7 and play their first-year tackle with some of the more experienced boys. This created both challenges and opportunities. The second-year tackle players lead the way in practices and games and the younger kids soon followed.

The kids trained well. Focusing on the key skills of tackling and ball retention. We had a special training session with Glenn Newman early in the season which really put things on track.

Every player showed great improvement during the season and showed great effort on the field. The kids wore their Northcote jerseys with pride and did the club proud with many great Saturday mornings

It was a season of 2 halves for the J5 Maroon team. Winning 1 of 7 for the first half, the boys finished strong winning 5 of 7 to finish the season.

We had a few player changes during the season and I’d like to thank Joel, Kyle, Bekele and Maddison for being a part of our team before they moved to other teams.

A special thank you to Paul McIndoe for stepping in as assistant coach early in the season. Also, a BIG thank you to all the parents that helped at practices and games. It was an honour to coach this great group of kids and we all look forward to next year.