RUSSELLS Creek coach Jay Everall is confident the Kangaroos’ off-season recruiting will lift them up the Warrnambool and District league ladder.
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Everall this week confirmed more than half-a-dozen new players would make Mack Oval their football home this season.
Former South Warrnambool onballer Izaac Dwyer headlines the arrivals and will take on an assistant coach role.
Dwyer had committed to the Hampden league Roosters in November, but a change of heart means he will help spearhead the Kangaroos’ revival.
Matt Foster, who spent three years playing as a punter in the American college system, has crossed from North Warrnambool Eagles.
Jackson Chatfield joins from Dennington while Lucas Hussey-Moran, Zach Westwick, teenager Jordan Lowery and Andrew Finlayson have also signed on.
Everall said the Kangaroos were confident of improving on their 2-16 record from last season. He said the recruit coups represented a productive summer.
“I think any club during the pre-season talks to plenty of players. You hope you can land a few,” he said.
“It’s just happened we’ve been able to snag quite a few of these guys in the last week or so. We’re really happy with who we’ve been able to pick up.
“We’re semi-confident we might roll a couple of others out yet. There are a few more guys we’re following up and trying to get on board.
“You’ve got to create some momentum with a few guys and that can lead onto other things. We see these guys coming on board as real momentum gatherers.”
Everall was particularly rapt to secure Dwyer. The super-fit ball carrier played with Geelong West-St Peter’s in the Geelong league last season.
That stint followed time with NEAFL club Aspley while he played with Hampden league clubs South Warrnambool and Port Fairy before that.
“He still does a fair bit of boxing, he’s big on his own personal fitness,” Everall said. “He’s come off a pretty good year with Geelong West-St Peter’s. He was best on ground three times which is no mean feat in the GFL.
“The thing I’m really looking forward to with him is his exposure to different leagues and different coaches and the knowledge he can pass on.
“He’s only 20 but you can tell he’s getting to that level where he’d like to help out some boys with some things he’s been taught.”
Chatfield would “get his opportunity to be a big part of our key-position stocks” while Foster gave the Kangaroos an X-factor up forward, Everall said.
“He’s been training with us for the last two or three weeks. I’m looking forward to having a guy of his size in our team first and foremost,” he said.
“We’ve been a bit vertically challenged since I’ve got there ... he’s been around a lot of good footy prior to taking off to America.”
Hussey-Moran was a key backman, Westwick would fill a midfield rotation while Lowery was a teenager emerging from the Dennington junior system.
Finlayson was Melbourne-based but would travel to play. His brother Cameron Finlayson is recovering from a broken leg and won’t play until mid-season.
Tahi Pompey and Stewart Shambrook are the Kangaroos’ only confirmed departures. They play Timboon Demons at Timboon in round one on April 4.