The South Warrnambool midfielder, who grew up in Geelong and spent time in Melbourne, is enjoying living in Warrnambool and being back at Friendlies.

"I love the club," he said. "I moved back as (girlfriend Teashene Struth) wanted to move away from town and went to see if she liked it but we were back pretty quickly.

"The boys down here are my best mates and it's a great club so it's great to be back and playing with them.

"We are living in Warrnambool. We moved for just the year but I feel I will be here for rest of my career and I'm looking forward to it.

"We moved to Geelong and I played for South Barwon for the year and it was good but all our ties are back here. This was the first country club I played at and it's the one I'm going to finish at.

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"GFL is a good standard of footy and I had a reasonably good year but coming back and playing with this core group is something that I've enjoyed and I missed playing with my mates. That's the biggest thing I missed."

Saunders, an electrician by trade, said spending time away from the city reminded him of how much he loved it.

"I grew up in Geelong, worked in Melbourne and then came down here with the girlfriend as a getaway once I stopped working in Melbourne and I loved it," he said.

"It's close to the beach because I surf a bit and dive and have got a ski that we get out on when we can. Being close to the beach is something that I've always wanted.

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"Even in Geelong you're half an hour away and 30 minutes is a drive but here it's two minutes so you can go check out the beach and if it's no good you can turn around and go home where there you make a trip of it. That's the biggest thing I've noticed."

The former St Kilda player, who managed 22 games across four AFL seasons, is hopeful the Roosters can end their 10-year flag drought this season.

"I just want to win a flag this year," he said. "I always want to play good footy but playing good footy is going to help the team as well.

"We have got a lot of young players that are playing well and as a team we have got a more secure 22 and not many, or if any, weak links as well so we have got a heap of depth.

"There is some awesome players playing in the twos and if we can get everything right we will be a good chance at the end of the year."

South Warrnambool resumes its season, after two byes, against Port Fairy on Saturday.

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