LIAM DURKIN
FOOTBALL
GIPPSLAND LEAGUE
By LIAM DURKIN
TRARALGON Football-Netball Club has recruited former Hawthorn player Tom Schneider for season 2022.
Schneider was rookie listed by the Hawks in 2011 and spent two years on the list.
Although he did not make a senior appearance, he won the best-and-fairest for Hawthorn’s VFL affiliate Box Hill in 2012.
The 29-year-old most recently played with Vermont in the Eastern Football League, where he won three club best-and-fairest awards and won two senior flags, including best afield honours in one of them.
Schneider comes to Traralgon thanks to a connection with current Maroons coach Jake Best, who played alongside him at Vermont.
Best also recently used his Vermont network to secure former Port Adelaide forward Brett Eddy.
Elsewhere, another former local AFL footballer from Traralgon will also be seen in Gippsland next season, although he won’t be playing for his old club.
Traralgon Tyers United product Nick Graham has signed with Warragul.
Graham, who played 48 games for Carlton between 2013 and 2018, has joined Blues teammate and Yarram footballer Jed Lamb in making the move to the Gulls.
Lamb was touted to play a one-off game for Yarram last April in the North Gippsland Football-Netball League, however, his clearance was denied owning to him being a contracted player for a club in the Heathcote and District Football-Netball League.
Graham has become something of a cult hero among AFL fans post his playing days, with his self-deprecating style resonating with many local football battlers.
He holds the unwanted AFL record for being the most dropped player of all time, having been cut from the Carlton team 22 times in his six years at the club.
