FOOTBALL

GIPPSLAND LEAGUE/MID GIPPSLAND

By LIAM DURKIN

 

THEY did very well to keep this quiet.

Morwell Football-Netball Club has officially announced the recruitment of VFL premiership player Will Lewis for next season.

The 26-year-old will play for the Tigers when not on VFL duty at Whitten Oval.

He kicked 40 goals in the VFL last season playing as a key forward.

Lewis enjoyed the unique distinction of winning two flags in one week, celebrating with Footscray and also qualifying for VAFA club Old Brighton.

“As a strong athletic six foot four key forward, we look forward to seeing what Will can produce on the big Gippsland League grounds in the yellow and black,” Morwell FNC posted.

The Tigers have their own VFL premiership player in skipper Aidan Quigley, who played in Casey’s 2022 triumph.

Should Lewis play against Moe, spectators could well be treated to a Salmon/Ablett-like game with Ben Crocker at the other end of the ground for the Lions.

Crocker came close to reaching the ton in the last Gippsland League season.

While the recruitment of a player of Lewis’ calibre usually means there is a family/work/friendship connection to the new club, it is understood Morwell simply took a punt and things developed from there.

As they say: if you don’t ask, you don’t know.

The acquisition is sure to come as some comfort to Morwell officials, after the list appeared to be thinning.

New coach Shaun Mooney walked into less than ideal circumstances, as three players defected to Yallourn Yallourn North (Cody Macdonald, Brandon Mcaullife and Tom Gray), while playing-coach of the last three years, Boyd Bailey took the coaching job at Sea Lake in northern Victoria.

His departure has meant wily defender Harri McColl has returned to Yinnar after two years. Bailey played cricket for Raiders on a virtual gentleman’s agreement that McColl would play footy for Morwell.

The Magpies look set to feature deep in Mid Gippsland finals again, with former Morwell player James Jacobsen, (most recently aligned with TTU) also coming across, along with Sam Walsh.

It is believed Walsh left after becoming frustrated with how the Morwell senior coaching position was eventually filled.

Fellow Mid Gippsland club Thorpdale has landed arguably the biggest recruit, luring Ayden Ramm from Neerim Neerim South. By all accounts, he is the best winger in the Ellinbank competition.

Historically, the Blues have always had a pretty strong top end, yet sheer demographics mean the depth usually drops right away.

Still, with midfielders James De Virgilio and Lachlan Wallace roving to ruckman Gavin Low, Thorpdale would have to rate its chances most weeks.

There is still uncertainly about whether or not star local Shannon Pickering (rated by some to be Thorpdale’s most important player) will be in blue and white colours next year, given his older brother Ray coaches Catani.

Similar to the Bailey/McColl arrangement, Thorpdale senior coach Daniel Taylor is playing cricket for Thorpdale this season, presumably to be close to any conversation surrounding Pickering’s future.

All this said, many Mid Gippsland insiders are already saying it will be Foster then daylight in the race for the premiership.

The Tigers have favourite son and former Traralgon senior coach Jake Best at the helm. He is best mates with Brett Eddy (and has been asked to be best man at his wedding). It can be reasonably assumed the new coach will be doing all he can to convince the former Port Adelaide forward to come home and play.

The Maroons themselves have lost some players seeking senior opportunity at North Gippsland clubs, but gained a host of quality TTU troops.

Moe meanwhile has experienced a very high turnover of players. At last count there was at least 15 from this year’s reserves team photo missing alone.

Compounding the issue will be the fact a host of senior players have had surgery or are still recovering from injury.

Declan Keilty, Harri Sim, Trent Baldi and Ben Maslen are just some who will go into next year on limited preseasons.