Warrnambool and District league club Merrivale has managed to get one of its favourite sons back to the club for season 2021.
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Young gun Jyron Neave has returned to Tigerland after intending to play with Koroit in the Hampden league in 2020.
The WDFNL and HFNL senior seasons were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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The 21-year-old said he was motivated to return to Merrivale to play alongside his mates. He said his younger brother was also playing juniors at the club.
"I'm pretty excited to go back and play with my good mates and we've got a pretty good team at the minute," he said.
The small forward-midfielder kicked 36 goals in 2019 as the Tigers made a semi-final.
He's also excited to work with new coach Josh Sobey, who is stoked to have Neave back on board.
"He's a fantastic little player, his skill level is elite," Sobey said.
"He's passionate about his footy and passionate about the club."
Neave adds to Merrivale's growing list of recruits.
Manny Sandow (South Warrnambool), Nathan Krepp (South Rovers), Tyson Umbers (Dennington) and Jack Gleeson (Koroit) are among the acquisitions in the past six months.
"The biggest goal was for us to try and recruit players who were passionate about Merrivale and passionate about changing and taking us to the next step," Sobey said.
"We feel everyone we've recruited has those strong ties to Merrivale whether through mates or family.
"We identified that as our main goal rather than trying to recruit players from here, there and everywhere."
Sobey said the Tigers returned to pre-season training on November 16 and have another two sessions before a Christmas break.
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