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READ MORE - Strathfieldsaye's 2019-19 decade in review
BENDIGO Football-Netball League Symons medallist Baxter Slater is joining Strathfieldsaye.
Slater won the BFNL's Symons Medal with Gisborne as the under-18 best and fairest in 2018 - the same season in which he was part of the Bulldogs' under-18 team that beat Sandhurst in the grand final.
"He's also played a bit of footy in the Northern Territory (with St Mary's), so we're looking forward to him coming on board with us," Strathfieldsaye co-coach Shannon Geary said on Friday.
"He will go into the midfield for us and play as an inside-mid.
"I remember playing on him when he was a 16-year-old and he was quite tough to play on with his size and strength, so he's a good addition to the midfield group."
I remember playing on him when he was a 16-year-old and he was quite tough to play on with his size and strength, so he's a good addition to the midfield group
- Shannon Geary
As well as the signing of Slater, the Storm also have two premiership players returning to the club in Matt Harvey and Jake Hall.
Meanwhile, Geary played down any speculation of his brother, Kallen, pulling the boots back on in 2021.
Kallen, one of the stars of the BFNL through the midfield and off half-back since joining the Storm in 2015, hung up his boots following an AFL Victoria Medal-winning performance in Strathfieldsaye's 2019 grand final win over Eaglehawk.
"He's got a fair bit going on with his house, baby and work... if he decides that he wants to pull the boots back on I'd be more than happy to have him back out there," Geary said.
"I've heard it (the speculation), but at this stage, we haven't spoken to him. If he wants to play again then he will come talk to us."
Kallen is one of five outs from the Storm's 2019 premiership team.
Key position swingman Bryce Curnow, who won the Nalder Medal as best on ground in the grand final, gun midfielder Sam Heavyside and premiership coach Troy Coates have all gone to Kerang, while key forward Hugh Robertson has earned a scholarship as a punter at the University of Illinois.
The Storm this week began their build-up to what will, hopefully, be the return of the BFNL in 2021 with their first pre-season training sessions.
"I got badgered from the players about getting back into training, which isn't normally the case," Geary said.
"It's just good to get back around each other and set some sort of normality back into our lives with footy training."
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