A number of fresh faces have joined several familiar ones in the expanded SANFL development squad for 2019.

Forty-six players have been included in the new-look squad, with SANFL coach Heath Younie and his coaching team working hard on targeting the best talent in the State.

Jye DeZylva (West Adelaide), Jackson Press (Woodville-West Torrens), Pierce Seymour (Norwood) and Lachie Ryan (West Adelaide) are newcomers that all have experience at State League level.

There are multiple sets of brothers in the squad this year, including Billy and Maddy Hayes and Brad and Matt Merrett, with all except Maddy having played footy for Glenelg.

Tom Hutchesson (Millicent), Hamish Latchford (Prince Alfred College) and Mitch Johnson (Flagstaff Hill) are three players that have been involved in pre-season matches and are likely to feature early in the year.

Returning to the squad this year are Jordon Boyle, Michael McMahon, Ryan Marini and 2018’s Dean Bailey award winner Corey Davey.

YOUNIE: Improving the process

Younie believes the depth of the squad is far improved from last season.

“We looked at depth in a number of positions, we didn’t just go and find the best 10, we made sure we profiled our list and then we were able to depth chart off the back of that,” Younie said.

“We’re really thrilled with the squad we put together, there is a number of players in there that we have exposed to AFL match simulation, the Under-23s game or the trial against Norwood and thus far, the ones that have played have acquitted themselves well.

“We feel like we are in a really good position where our development squad players will support our AFL players strongly.”

Given how healthy Adelaide’s current AFL list is, Younie said he was unsure how many development squad players would get opportunities as a result.

“At the moment we are in a really healthy position, so how many we need come Round One, we don’t know,” Younie said.

“We are really comfortable as a coaching group that if we do need players, there’s probably 10-15 that have played or are going to be able to play at the level.”

The SANFL side will play in a trial match against Port Adelaide at Alberton on Friday night before their season proper gets underway on Saturday, March 30 against Sturt at Unley Oval.