BFNL: Trio of players fresh off flags sign with Castlemaine

Golden Square premiership player Zavier Murley and the Harcourt flag duo of Darby Semmens and Kalan Huntly have all been announced this week as signings by the Magpies.

Midfielder Huntly is a best and fairest winner at the Magpies in 2017 and three-time BFNL inter-league player, while he also has a connection with new Castlemaine coach Michael Hartley having played some VFL football with him at Essendon.

READ MORE: New Magpies coach Michael Hartley confident of improvement

Huntly last played with Castlemaine in 2018 and has since had stints at Koondrook Barham in the Central Murray league and Port Douglas in the AFL Cairns competition before Joining Harcourt this year.

Huntly helped Harcourt to an undefeated season in the Maryborough Castlemaine District league this year, culminating in the grand final win over Carisbrook last month.

"It's huge for us getting Kal back to the club... he's someone with experience and has played inter-league footy previously," Hartley said on Thursday.

"We're working hard on trying to get a lot of our past players back to the club. We've obviously struggled for a while now and we want to change that.

"We want to get players back to the club and rebuild and we're doing our best to get those sort of players like Kal back at the club. Kal was very high on our list given all that he has done in his footy.

"I played a little bit of VFL footy with him at Essendon and it's good to have that previous relationship."

Also making the move from reigning MCDFNL premiers Harcourt to Castlemaine is Darby Semmens, who co-captained the Lions' 11-point grand final win over Carisbrook.

READ MORE: Filo, Fowler win Castlemaine's top awards in 2023

Semmens, who has also previously played at Castlemaine, was also a premiership player with Harcourt last year.

"Darby is another very good player and it's a great sign for the club to get that calibre of player," Hartley said.

"Having captained a premiership team he obviously brings some leadership, which is going to be really important because we're quite a young side."

Meanwhile, after playing in Golden Square's grand final win over Sandhurst last month Murley has signed with the Magpies for 2024.

"Zavier is obviously a very good player who helped Golden Square get the job done this year," Hartley said.

"He knows a lot of people at the club and is someone who we eyed off fairly early in terms of being a quality addition.

"To win a premiership was obviously huge for Zavier, but for him to be able to see that we're on the way up in 2024 and striving to really improve, it's good he has seen that and looked to come on board.

"I'm sure he's going to do some great things for us as, similar to Kal, a player who can both play inside and go forward and have an impact."

New coach Hartley, who has signed for two years, hasn't shied away from his aim for 2024 - returning the Magpies to the finals for the first time since 2005.

Hartley spent the bulk of his 49 games with Essendon (44) and Hawthorn (5) as a defender, but is likely to spend most of his time with the Magpies in attack.

"I had a lot of bags kicked on me throughout my career, so I'm pretty keen to kick a few goals," said Hartley, who played this year with Seymour in the Goulburn Valley league.

"In saying that, I'm very happy to roll back and play in defence when needed, but I'd say I'll start up forward."

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