Jacques to lead Saints march

GUN on-baller and a league medallist, Liam Jacques will be stand-alone captain of Heathcote’s senior football team in this season’s Bendigo Bank Heathcote DFNL action.

A new-look on-field leadership team for the Saints will be Jacques as captain, and Callum Birch and Will Tobin as vice-captains.

After a three-year stint at Bell Park, Tobin has returned to the Saints’ home at Pigeon Park.

A superb 2023 season for Jacques included the Sam Cheatley as the HDFNL’s fairest and best player in the Saints’ run to the grand final where they were beaten by Mount Pleasant.

Although he steps down as captain and assistant coach, Codie Price will be playing on for the Andrew Saladino-coached Saints.

It’s a big year for Price and wife Brooke (nee Bolton) as they are expecting their first child.

On the footy front, the Saints are likely to be close to full-strength for the round one clash on 12 April against Mount Pleasant at Colbinabbin.

Injuries and unavailability meant the Saints did not play Cohuna Kangas in last Saturday’s practice matches scheduled at Pigeon Park in Heathcote’s Barrack Reserve.

The Jack Geary-coached Kangas instead made their way to Bendigo Club Oval in North Bendigo’s Atkins Street to take on the Bulldogs.

Saladino said the Saints were struggling to field a team and would have battled to be competitive against Cohuna.

“We had 11 players who were injured for the matches against Mulwala the previous weekend and another three were injured at Mulwala,” he said. “None of those were serious injuries, mainly sprains and strains.”

A week out from the start of his fourth season in charge at Heathcote, Saladino said players to have impressed across the pre-season hit-outs included Dylan Johnstone from Cohuna Kangas, key defender Oscar Keogh from Dunolly, and 17-year-old Ryan Foster.