SAM Dwyer is returning to the club which launched his AFL career.
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The South Warrnambool export has delighted Port Melbourne officials after signing with the Borough for the 2016 VFL season.
Dwyer, 29, played 95 matches for Port Melbourne in an glittering eight-year career before Collingwood snapped him up as a mature-age rookie three seasons ago.
Port Melbourne coach Gary Ayres said Dwyer would slot back into the Borough’s midfield.
“A premiership star, best-and-fairest winner, VFL team of the year and state of origin…,” he said.
“He’s a Borough boy. We are over the moon.
“In the end he is back at his rightful home I would have thought.”
Dwyer played 39 AFL games for Collingwood before he was delisted at the end of last season.
He harbored ambitions of playing at the elite level in 2016 but was overlooked during the draft and delisted free agency periods.
Ayres said he was glad Dwyer got the chance to show his wares at the Magpies.
The 180-centimetre ball winner was a revelation in his first season, playing 21 matches.
“I likened it be being a very proud father seeing a son fulfill his dream,” Ayres said.
“I know how hard he worked and how patient he’d been.
“From my discussions with Sam he is very thankful for the opportunity.”
Ayres said Dwyer’s achievement, and those of other mature-age success stories such as Geelong premiership forward James Podsiadly and Fremantle midfielder Michael Barlow, gave players hope.
The VFL produced eight AFL draftees this year. Three landed at Essendon.
“If any young guys out there are maybe disillusioned after missing out on the draft in their 18, 19 year old years, there are a lot of different examples of guys waiting patiently and working on the deficiencies in their games,” he said.
Dwyer joins ex-AFL players Mitch Golby (Brisbane) and Matt Arnot (Richmond) as Port Melbourne’s headline recruits.
Ayres, entering his ninth season at the helm, said “a ruckman would be the icing on the cake” to a strong recruiting campaign.
“I am quite bullish about the fact that not making the finals has certainly given us an opportunity to put in the hard work in the off-season,” he said.
“I think anything you do, you have to have passion and there has to be a vision.
“We know what the vision should be and that is to be the best we can be.”
