SOUTH Warrnambool defender Matt Sully is on the move after three years in the VFL system.
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Sully, 22, has signed with NEAFL club Southport for the 2015 season and will move to Queensland in January.
The 195-centimetre key defender played 42 games, including the 2013 VFL grand final, in Cats’ colours but said he needed a change of scenery.
“I was back here (in Warrnambool) working and travelling up and I got pretty sick of that and felt I needed something fresh to motivate myself and thought I could do it up there with a new lifestyle,” Sully said.
“It is an awesome club and they seem pretty professional in the way they go about it — they don’t like losing — so it was a pretty easy decision.”
Southport is one of 14 clubs in the NEAFL — a competition which includes AFL reserves sides Gold Coast, which went winless in 2014, Brisbane, Sydney and Greater Western Sydney.
Sully could find himself playing against former South Warrnambool teammate Louis Herbert, who is preparing for his second AFL season with the Suns.
The Roosters 2011 premiership player said he was eager to play key defence — a position he cemented at Geelong — for the Sharks but was happy to move forward if the club found itself lacking key targets. He was excited about the prospect of flying to games and was already preparing to train and play in warm conditions.
“When it’s been hot here I have been trying to go for a run to get used to it a bit,” he said.
Sully said he still harboured ambitions of playing AFL. He was on clubs’ radars after a standout 2013 campaign which netted him VFL team of the year honours and an AFL state combine invite but was overlooked in the draft period.
“There were a few players drafted out the NEAFL this year,” Sully said. “I am a big believer if you’re enjoying your footy, you’ll play better.”
Sully played 16 games for Geelong and three for South Warrnambool this year.
He was content with his VFL form but felt it fell short of his 2013 efforts.
“I felt like I battled through a fair bit,” he said. “I still came fifth in the (Cats’) VFL best and fairest so it wasn’t too bad a year but I didn’t feel like I performed at my best.
“But I want to get really fit and have a crack next year.”
Sully will move to Queensland with his girlfriend Tayla in the new year and will start work as a groundskeeper at Southport before searching for a potential career in construction.