Yarra Valley Water InFocus 2026 | Mulgrave

By Jared Beanland.

The past three years at Mulgrave have shown great improvement for the Lions as they push closer to the ultimate success.

The Lions have made the finals in each of those years with varying levels of expectation, yet have fallen short of what could have been. Wantirna South put them to the sword in the 2025 Semi Final, but with the Devils out of the way an improved Mulgrave side could push for glory in season 2026.

Matt Richards enters his fourth year as coach, after reaching his 500 game milestone as senior player, then coach of the club.

The Lions have lofty expectations based on what they have been able to achieve recently, and with the changes that have occurred in the offseason, those goals are looking closer than ever for Richards.

“I’m pretty happy with the way things have progressed. I’m on my fourth year, so you feel like you know it all at the start, but definitely the experience helps. So we’ve set out to change a few little things we think we need to do, to go a little bit deeper than what we’ve been able to do. We’ve played finals for three years, but we want to get to a grand final, that’s it for us. That’s the aim.”

Consistency has been the question at Garnett Road for a while now, so Richards aims to be strategic in the way he approaches team selection throughout the year. He hopes that will assist in the longevity of the form that Mulgrave has often found through different periods of the past couple of years.

“Well you need a bit of luck, you need all your guns up at the end of the season, which we’ve unfortunately not been able to do. So that’s probably a little bit on me as a coach – planning and looking after the right bodies for the right time. And that also comes down to getting the wins on the board early, so you can dictate some selection plans for later in the season.”

A good start to the season has not always translated to success for Mulgrave, although has bolstered their finals chances once the point end of the season comes.

Richards wants to continue that trend, but also flesh out the team so the mid year struggle they have often faced will be an easier task.

“We dropped some close games that we shouldn’t have. We got off to a good start, which helped, we won the first three games, and we dropped a couple of close games. If you win those that changes everything straight away. Personnel-wise we’ve added what we think we’ve needed. That’s just to get that consistency across the board so that we can win every game that we’re in.”

The main recruit that draws the eyes is Giorgio Varagiannis, having played at Doncaster East in Premier Division, and VFL sides including the Northern Bullants, and Greater Western Sydney.

Oliver Munro also joins the Lions from Seymore, providing a bigger body which, Richards predicts, will provide the Lions with a great option in the forward line. Mulgrave have also been able to welcome back players who will look familiar in the red, blue, and gold.

“(Varagiannis) is a ripper, he’s played Premier, and VFL footy. He’s a local kid, so he just fits in, and he’s a one-pointer for us. He went to school with a lot of the boys, and to be honest he’s had the perfect preseason. He has not missed a beat, he’s brought the professionalism that we need. He comes from a high level, and he’s brought that to training. The other one we’ve been really rapt with is another guy who went to school with the boys, but he’s from Seymore, Ollie Munro. He’s a big country kid, and a big key forward. And then, we’ve been fortunate, because we’ve managed to bring back four players from inside the club. Two didn’t play a game last year in Jackson Collins and Evan Sarkissian, and two only had half seasons last year in Zach Bonney and Sam Carter. All big boys. So where we got out-muscled against Wantirna South, we’ve identified that. So we’re pretty happy with their preseasons.”

The Mulgrave under 19s have had an impressive recent few years with season 2025 ending in narrow grand final defeat at the hands of Surrey Park. Nevertheless that team will provide the senior side with multiple talented options for development.

“For five years maybe our under 19s group really competitive, and we think we’re starting to see that come through now. We’ve got four twenty year olds who will play a lot of senior footy this year. Noah Smith, Oscar Bartlett, Max Taborsky, and Noah Andrews.”

The inconsistency of Mulgrave was punctuated by the absence of players going overseas. This year Richards is optimistic that the Lion won’t see as much loss, and will be bolstered by the experience granted to younger players who were fielded given the absence of such experience.

“Last year we lost 72 games with guys going overseas. This year will be about 12 I think. I just copped that on the chin, but it did hurt us at times. We just seemed to have a better buy-in this year, I think the guys see that window, and we’re in the sweet spot with our age demographic. And I think all coaches would say there’s a good feeling and such, but I’ve got a really positive feeling about our season because of the way the boys have all clicked. It’s just one of those preseasons where it feels like everyone’s really good mates. And maybe that’s because everyone’s from within the club already, so it’s good.”

The coaching line-up at Garnett Road has been augmented by the addition of 2010 premiership player Peter Greenstreet, who had coached the senior line-up back in 2016 and ’17.

The club values the loyalty of people such as Greenstreet, Richards himself, former captain Sam Kassianou, and Ned Rowland. 2016 Western Bulldogs premiership player Fletcher Roberts has also been an integral addition to the leadership group over the past couple of years, and – despite recent injury – will once more pull on the boots and give Mulgrave valuable direction in their forward line.

“We’ve brought back a former senior coach in Peter Greenstreet as an assistant, so that’s helped and taken a bit of pressure off me. Sam Kassianou is a former club captain who’s playing in our twos, but he’s also senior assistant. And then there’s also Fletcher Roberts as a senior assistant, so I’ve got a really good group around me. Our reserves coach Ned Rowland and his team are back again, so no-one’s new. So that’s exciting. Our 19s coach was our reserves captain last year, he’s stood down from playing so he can coach. So there’s a real connection – everyone knows each other, and are good mates. And that’s what I’ve noticed too, with our recruits like Giorgio and big Ollie, they went to school locally, so they’ve got mates at the club. The boys presented to me in November fit, and come back after Christmas in as good a nick as I could have hoped for.”

Despite doubts surrounding his calf injury, Roberts will continue to play for Mulgrave, and lead the team both on and off the field.

“Huge to keep him on board. To get him for four years now at Mulgrave has been massive. So he’ll retire as a footballer with us now. I think it was about round 14 last year when he did his calf, so he’s back. He played his first full game last weekend, and got through. So we’re planning on him being in our round 1 team, which is huge. He’s professional with everything he does, so he’s done the rehab meticulously. Huge for our group because most of his teammates are in their mid to low twenties, so we need his experience with age, and just his experience of where he’s been. In his fourth year now, he’s fully one of the Mully boys, he’s connected to the whole group. Very happy to have him.”

Two of the biggest names to come through the Lions’ ranks are Angus Gervasoni, and club captin Connor Tilyard. They both look set to lead the Mulgrave midfield in season 2026. Richards is looking forward to Angus’ brother Jaxon joining him onfield after a horror run of injuries that have cut multiple seasons short.

“They’ve had a huge preseason, both of them. Connor would be in his third year as club captain, so that’s just improving as he’s maturing. He might be 24 or something, so it’s just perfect. Angus he’s a 21 year old star, he could easily be playing at a high level in the EFNL, but he’s pretty loyal to Mulgrave. He’s a very popular player at our club. Our midfield looks pretty strong with those two in there, it always does. And we’re also hoping to get Angus’s older brother Jaxon back who won the league Best and Fairest about six years ago, he’s had a double ACL. So we had him for two games last year, and he did his ACL for a second time in his second game. That’s one hopefully for later in the season, but we’ll just see how that progresses.”

Mulgrave have waved goodbye to multiple tall forward options, such as Thomas McGowan, and Bailey Thompson, who have left for Doncaster and Scoresby respectively. Max Taborsky presents himself as an obvious addition to the forward line after his form in the under 19s, while Manny Sarkissian will look to move forward after playing elsewhere on the ground in seasons past for the Lions. Richards is anticipating other options to join them both to cover the losses in the offseason.

“Max will play forward for us, he’s 6’6 and a forward ruck. Nathan Peddle who we got two years ago from Oakleigh Districts has had fantastic preseason, he also came off an ACL. Manny Sarkissian we hope to move forward, Austin Dean made the Team of the Year last year, he’s back fit and firing. So I’m pretty confident we can cover any losses. Tommy McGowan, he’s a long term Mulgrave player he was just at the end with us, so we spoke openly, and he went to Doncaster with our blessing. He just wanted to continue to try and play senior footy, and he realised we wanted to give the younger guys a go, so he was fantastic in accepting that.”

Mulgrave have been rather inconsistent onfield, with their high handball game being found out in the semi-final against Wantirna South. Richards looks to amend their ball movement, and take advantage of the new key forwards who have been added to the club.

“I think we’ll be a little bit more consistent, and we’ve added and really worked on our midfield use of the ball. We were known as a high handball type team, and that’s because we value the possession of the ball, but we feel we’re going to be able to move the ball quickly and aggressively into our key forwards. That’s our hope, and it’s a long year so things might change, but that’s what we plan to do. Looking forward to hitting the ground running at Jubilee Park for round 1 against Ringwood, who I know under Brett Rowe will be up and about.”

Mulgrave will commence their 2026 campaign today against Ringwood at Jubilee Park on April 11th.