RYAN Semmel’s not sure what he’s going to do with his Saturday mornings during football season next year.

For six of the past seven seasons the Melbourne-based Semmel’s Saturday mornings have been spent in a car for a couple of hours travelling up the Calder to play with Huntly in the Heathcote District league.

Through that time he has established himself as the premier midfielder in the competition who this year became the first player in HDFNL history to win the Cheatley Medal three times.

However, Semmel will now have significantly more free time on his hands on a Saturday morning given his new club is now less than five minutes away.

READ MORE – “An absolute freak of a footballer” – former coach lauds Semmel

Semmel is leaving the Hawks and will continue his career with Mordialloc in the Southern Football League.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with my mornings before footy now,” Semmel said on Thursday.

“The ground is four minutes from my place, so it’s obviously a lot different to the two-and-a-half hour trip over the past few years.

“After six or so years of the travelling I’m mentally drained from it and just need a bit of a break from it.

“But I really enjoyed my time at Huntly… it’s such a welcoming club and that’s what a lot of the guys I brought with me have said as well.”

Semmel joined the Hawks from the Shepparton Swans in 2012.

He played with Huntly in 2012 and 2013 before spending 2014 with Rye.

Semmel then returned to the Hawks in 2015, where he has played the past four years.

Throughout his six seasons and 102 games for the Hawks Semmel won a trio of Cheatley medals in 2013, 2016 and this year.

However, what he most desperately craved with the Hawks eluded him – a premiership.

Yet the 31-year-old hasn’t ruled out another crack at trying to win a flag with the Hawks in the future.

READ MORE – Cheatley Medal history for Huntly’s Semmel

“We’ll see what happens… I’m definitely not ruling out looking at coming back in a couple of years,” Semmel said.

“Hopefully, they can build up with a lot of local talent now and set a really good base because there was probably just a few too many travelling, which makes it hard with the training side of things.”

As well as Semmel, Mordialloc has also signed key forward Chris Gleeson, who kicked 283 goals for Huntly in the same six seasons Semmel played with the Hawks.

Mordialloc lost this year’s preliminary final to East Malvern by three points, while the club was beaten grand finalists in 2017.

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