Tweeddale, a 195cm ruckman originating from the Blue Mountains, is described by Essendon list manager, Adrian Dodoro, as an exciting prospect who will develop into a spine player.
“Oliver is a 15-year-old, tall, athletic-type player who is best suited to the centre-half back or centre-half forward positions at this stage of his development,” Dodoro said.
“We expect to accelerate his development under our guidance over the next two-three years.”
Dodoro describes Cole - who hails from North Shore Football Club and stands at 181cm tall – as a midfielder who has excellent skills, finds the football and is hard at the ball.
“Josh has great potential and, under our guidance, should develop into a quality player,"" he said.
“He represented NSW at under sixteen level with great distinction this year.
“The great thing also with Cole is that he is a North Shore boy – from our affiliate club – so from that perspective it is a really exciting fit for us.”
The new talent program has been in place for two years and Essendon have signed five scholarship holders during this time. Other signed players include: Ben Simons (his schloarship finishes this year), James Webster and Simon Davies (who now plays at Essendon’s VFL affiliate – the Bendigo Bombers).
“We are determined to make the NSW Scholarship program work at Essendon,” Dodoro said.
“We have put a lot of time and resources into making it an exciting initiative for our club.
“These two new guys are the perfect fit for our club given they are 16 and 15 years of age – it gives us three years to develop them within our program. We see them as two young players with enormous potential who will hopefully go on to play AFL football.
“We will continue to develop our resources and our infrastructure in New South Wales and Merv Keane is doing a magnificent job for the club coordinating our NSW program.
“We think in the years to come, providing the program stays in place, we will be able to nurture a lot more players.”
