The post season changes continue at Avalon Airport Oval with Football Manager Mark Micallef announcing his decision to take up a new opportunity and challenge in the education field.

In his three years in the job, Mark has worked closely and successfully with all staff and volunteers to grow and build the foundation that is the heartbeat of the football club.

Looking back, Micallef says “The fabric of this club wasn’t broken. I have had great people around me the whole time who all have bought into what the club is trying to achieve. Helping them make a contribution to our progression has been very satisfying, culminating in the on-field success we all achieved this season.” 

CEO Mark Penaluna is full of praise for the work of Micallef:

“Mark has shown great leadership, an incredible work ethic and a team ethos that has gelled the entire football department to be the most cohesive I have seen in my time, which is a great testament to his professional skills. He has left big shoes to fill.” 

The position of Football Manager will be advertised soon. 

This season's Bruce Montgomery Trophy winner Dom Brew is among the first players to re-sign for the 2024 VFL season.

After a career-best year culminating with his first Best and Fairest win and selection in the VFL Team of the Year,  the popular hardman can’t wait to get stuck into next season. 

Brew shared his thoughts on The Big W podcast season finale episode. 

“That grand final loss burns. To come so close was devastating but it’s important to reflect on the year we had and 17 wins in a row is unbelievable.”

Brew may have 90 VFL games under his belt but believes the best is yet to come. “I have never enjoyed my footy as much with a bunch of blokes. We are just starting to reap the rewards but we have to go on.” 

“I promise you I won’t be on that side of the podium ever again. Next time I will be on the other side.” 

Young gun Sam Clohesy has also committed, as best he can, for 2024. 

The Fothergill-Round-Mitchell medallist is certainly on the radar of AFL clubs.    

“I’ve had a couple of (AFL clubs) interests and a few testings to be done - nothing set in stone, but it is a very exciting time.”

While an AFL career looms for Sam, he is keeping his feet firmly planted at Avalon Airport Oval   

“It never really crossed my mind. I just wanted to go out each week and play my part for the team and do whatever to get us a win.

It wasn’t until that medal (Fothergill-Round-Mitchell) that I thought: I have had a pretty good year. Even now I try and put it to the back of my mind and still think about Werribee next year. We want to keep going and winning.”

Like Dom and Sam, you will have the chance to sign on when the 2024 membership packages are announced very soon.   

The final siren at Ikon Park brought to a close the 2023 VFL season and, unbeknown to footy fans, the playing days of Michael Sodomaco.

The club’s longest serving captain made the announcement at the 2023 Bruce Montgomery Trophy night and leaves the club in a much better place than when he arrived as a promising 18 year old Geelong Falcon back in 2010. 

“Walking into Werribee I thought, you beauty. I had a good year at under 18s and can’t wait to play (Sodomaco was captain and was the Falcons’ B&F winner in 2010). There was a good country presence which I really liked but I was not going to kick Dom Gleeson out of the midfield in my first year. The overwhelming experience was I just had to get better and work harder.”

Sodomaco has seen many versions of the club in his decade and a bit at Avalon Airport Oval, and not just in the facilities now enjoyed by all. The on-field structure has included a partially aligned list then a fully aligned model and now a standalone club, plus the demise of the development league, a competition he cut his teeth on in the early days. 

“There was a sliding doors moment back in about my third year. I rang Scotty West, the coach at the time, and said ‘I am not sure where I fit in the scheme of things. I am training well, playing well in the twos but I just can’t get in.’ We had a really good sit down. That was part of the reason in the shift from midfielder to half back flanker. That’s when the opportunity came to break into the senior side.”     

Sodomaco not only became an important player but a leader and club captain from 2015 to the end of the 2021 season.  

2015 was also when Martin Carter became President. “There is only one Michael Sodomaco in this world and it is a testament to his character and how he is perceived at the Werribee Football Club that he was captain for 7 consecutive years. That is a vote from the players and the coaches as to what sort of person he is on and off the ground. We’d like to see him back at some time in the future to assist us with his football brain and the qualities he has as a person.”     

The decision to hang up the boots was a difficult one for the popular number 3. 

“I wish I was 22 again and the club was in the state it is in. A standalone club with solid off field foundations. We’ve built a strong playing culture, a really good recruiting structure. The club is in a great spot to be a consistently successful team and that wasn’t always the case in my time.” 

“We have a great group of young blokes who hopefully stick around and take the club to where it should be. One step further than where we went this year.”   

Family will become Michael’s focus and while his wife Sarah and children Rosie and Ollie will see more of him, there will still be time for football.

“The plan is to keep enjoying the club. It has been a staple of our week for 12 years. I have awesome memories with my folks (Steve and Felicity) and my kids. I have even brought the in-laws along. I am pumped to be on the other side of the fence. I am incredibly thankful and honoured to have played for the club for so long. It has been an amazing chapter in my life.”    

In news that will come as no surprise to keen followers of the game and VFL football in particular, the VFL Coach of the Year - Werribee's Michael Barlow - is joining the North Melbourne Football Club as Development Manager. 

Just days after guiding Werribee into its first Grand Final in almost twenty years, Barlow accepted the offer to take the next step in his coaching career.

Werribee President Martin Carter naturally has mixed emotions: "The entire club is delighted for Mick but also disappointed to lose one of our favourite sons (again) to the AFL. Interestingly, our last two senior coaches have been headhunted by AFL clubs, which says a lot about the status of our club and our senior coaching position. We are proud to have played a part in Mick's football journey firstly as a player when he was drafted to Fremantle and now as his AFL coaching career begins." 

Barlow's three years as senior coach culminated with the Grand Final appearance after a club record-breaking 17 game winning streak, achievements he is very proud of: "The grand final loss still stings but this playing group gave everything they had and will be better for the experience. I have thoroughly enjoyed this stint at Avalon Airport Oval and thank the club for giving me the opportunity. It is a special club with an outstanding administration, great facilities and a culture committed to excellence on and off the field." 

The most sought after coaching job in Victorian football is now vacant and Werribee CEO Mark Penaluna expects a lot of interest: "Replacing someone of Mick's calibre is not an easy task but I am sure there are a lot of quality football people who will be keen to join us. It is a position full of possibilities and we are keen to build on what we achieved this year."