SANDHURST’S hopes of making a return to the Bendigo Football League finals for the first time since 2007 have been bolstered on the back of its pre-season recruiting.
The Dragons have landed key recruits in James Walsh, Simon Weekley and Tom Summerhayes, while Michael Cornish and Jon Coghlan will return to the field for the club in 2010.
Summerhayes has previously been on the Bendigo Pioneers’ list, and this year played with Sea Lake-Nandaly in the Mallee Football League, where he kicked 32 goals and was named in the best players nine times.
He was a member of the Tigers team that defeated Ouyen United by 33 points in this year’s grand final.
“From what I have seen of Tom, he’s a highly skilled, silky half-forward, midfielder type of player, who will be a good addition,” Dragons coach Keiran Nihill said yesterday.
Weekley also played in Sea Lake-Nandaly’s premiership team this year, kicking two goals in the grand final.
While he played in the Tigers’ flag, Weekley was also on the Bendigo Bombers’ list this year, playing 14 senior games.
He previously played with Sandhurst in 2007 when he kicked 51 goals and won the BFL’s Rising Star Award.
“He has probably changed his footy a little bit since then,” Nihill said.
“He has taken his fitness to another level, and obviously played key forward for the Bombers this year, but he did spend some time towards the end of the season playing half-back.
“His advantage to us is he’s going to be a difficult match-up for the opposition playing as a half-forward or on the wing.”
Walsh has crossed to Sandhurst from BFL rival Golden Square.
Walsh, a hard-at-it midfielder, is one of the under-rated players in the competition, this year polling 12 votes in the Michelsen Medal, but he missed a spot in Golden Square’s premiership side, with the Bulldogs choosing not to risk his injured ankle in the grand final against South Bendigo.
“He’s a player who has always played particularly well against us, particularly in the heavy going,” Nihill said.
“He has a stronger body, is fairly versatile and we think he will be an important part of our midfield.”
Cornish returns to Sandhurst after spending this year overseas.
He is a former captain of the Dragons who will further strengthen the midfield.
“He was our captain before he went away and can play a number of roles,” Nihill said.
“He started his footy as a half-back flanker, became a pretty good centre half-back playing on the likes of Luke Saunders and these types of blokes, then became an inter-league midfielder, so he’s a great player to have back.”
Coghlan was one of the hard-luck stories of the BFL last year.
Having rejoined Sandhurst from the Bendigo Bombers, Coghlan suffered a season-ending knee in
jury representing the BFL in the pre-season Bushfire Charity Match against the Bombers.
“Jon has done more work than anyone at the club already and looks like having a huge pre-season,” Nihill said.
“Coming back from a knee reconstruction, it often takes a lot of time to recover, but I think with his attitude and the way he’s going about it, if anyone can bounce back from a serious injury, he can.
“We’re not putting too much pressure on him given what he’s coming off.
“What Summerhayes, Cornish, Walsh and Coghlan give us is that extra rotation through the mid
field, which we’ve probably lacked against the good sides like Golden Square and South Bendigo.
“Twice we were with South Bendigo up until three quarter-time, but they probably got over us in the end by winning a bit more footy through the middle.
“I was really impressed with our young midfielders in Lee Coghlan and Jarrod Bateson this year, but they will be better if they get a bit more support.”
Sandhurst began its pre-season training this week and had more than 60 players on the track for its first two nights.
The Dragons finished sixth in 2009, ending the season with a 9-9 record, one game outside the top five.
Sandhurst will open its 2010 season on April 3 against Maryborough under lights at the QEO.
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