WHEN Michael Sargeant decided on a comeback to football this season, there was only one jumper he was going pull on.
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After spending 2013 working in the mines in Western Australia, Sergeant is now back in the familiar colours of Terang Mortlake.
He was a member of the Bloods 2005 and 2008 premiership teams and assistant coach of the club in 2010.
He then moved to coach Warrnambool and District league club Old Collegians in 2011 and ’12, leading the Warriors to a grand final appearance in his first year.
“I will be forever indebted to Old Collegians for the chance to coach and I loved my time there but I was always going to come back to Terang Mortlake,” Sergeant said.
“I am a Terang boy so I wanted to come back and do what I could for the club. I’m pretty passionate about Terang Mortlake.”
Sargeant, 32, returns to the Bloods as the oldest player in the senior team, just shading his long-time mates Damian O’Connor and Patrick Heffernan.
He said while he was keen to take on the challenge of a return to Hampden league football, there was plenty of work to do to be ready for action.
“When I started pre-season I realised I had to drop a bit of weight so it was a tough summer.
“But it was something I needed to do to keep up with the young blokes. The speed of these young blokes is probably the biggest change I have noticed since last time I played in the Hampden league.”
Sargeant was absent for the Bloods’ close loss to Portland in round one but has played in the last two rounds, which resulted in a three-point loss to North Warrnambool Eagles, then a 36-point win over Port Fairy.
This Saturday the Bloods host reigning premier and early flag favourite Warr-nambool in what will be another big test.
Over the course of his career Sargeant has been renowned for his versatility and in the pre-season he played forward for the Bloods before lining up in the backline in the last two games.
From his post down back, Sargeant said he was pleased with the progress the Bloods were making, with the team having missed the finals for the past two seasons.
“We are still a really young team. There are a few of us older blokes and a few in that middle bracket but most are young kids from the under 18s,” he said.
“With young players they are going to make mistakes and take time to develop so there are no great expectations within the club. We want to win more games than last year and see what happens from there.”
