Collins' return enhances Sandhurst's BFNL premiership credentials

The urge to complete that unfinished business has the 33-year-old back in a Sandhurst jumper for the 2023 Bendigo Football Netball League season.

Collins played 36 games at AFL level with Richmond and Carlton before returning to Bridgewater where he played and coached the Mean Machine's 2014 and 2015 premierships and also played in the 2016 flag.

He moved to Sandhurst in 2017 where he stayed until the end of the cancelled 2020 season.

Collins was playing coach of the Sandhurst side that made it to the preliminary final in 2018, but a BFNL premiership with the Dragons - something his father, David, achieved - remains the missing piece to his stellar footy career.

"It's something that we hadn't really counted on, so it's a great addition at this stage,'' Sandhurst co-coach Ashley Connick said of Collins' signing.

READ MORE: Andrew Collins opens up on his AFL career with Richmond and Carlton

"He's keen to come back and have another crack at Sandhurst, which is great for us.

"Andy has achieved a fair bit in his time in footy and the one thing missing that he'd like to tick off is playing in a successful Sandhurst team.

"Hopefully, he does tick that off."

Collins has the class and footy brain to play anywhere, but he's expected to spend most of his time with the Dragons inside forward 50.

He kicked 54 goals in 16 games for Bridgewater in 2022.

"We're going in open minded because we know he can do a lot of things,'' Connick said of Collins.

"His body is in good nick and he knows how to get himself prepared.

"We won't discount anything, he'll help us and make other players around him better.

"We did identify that an area we needed to improve was getting value out of our clearance work.

"The boys in the middle were outstanding and we had enough entries going forward, but we couldn't make the most of those chances.

"Andy will play some footy forward which makes us so much more dangerous. Multiple options are always valuable."

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Collins caps off a superb off-season recruiting campaign for Sandhurst that also netted Collingwood VFL star Lachlan Tardrew, who could yet be with the Dragons full-time, new co-coach Bryce Curnow, ex-Castlemaine midfielder Will Moran and the return of premiership midfielder Nick Stagg.

Essendon VFL-listed midfielder Sam Conforti is aligned with the Dragons, while key forward Cobi Maxted (Collingwood) and wingman/half-back Cooper Smith (North Melbourne) are also expected to be aligned via VFL lists.

While several clubs across the region are struggling to find enough players to fill a reserve-grade team, the Dragons have plenty of numbers to choose from.

"Of the top-age kids that have come up from the thirds there's only one or two that have gone away to uni and the rest have stayed at the club,'' Connick said.

"We've lost a couple of depth players from the reserves, but overall we're looking really good in terms of numbers."

The Dragons return to the training track this week to continue their preparation for the 2023 season.

They already have two practice matches locked in.

"We'll play Sebastopol in Ballarat and then play Deniliquin here (in Bendigo),'' Connick said.

"We'll play a couple of intra-club games as well prior to those games.

"We'll have the last weekend off before the season and then get ready for Kangaroo Flat in round one."

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