Norwood and Sturt players set to star for Adelaide Hills football clubs Lobethal and Onkaparinga Valley
The Hills Football League is getting set for one of its most anticipated seasons in recent memory and these Norwood premiership stars are set to go from friends to foes.
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Eight years ago Ben Jefferies, Tim Webber, Matt Fuller and Alex Georgiou were on top of the world toasting Norwood’s 2012 SANFL premiership together.
This season they will be plotting each other’s demise on football grounds up in the Adelaide Hills.
Jefferies and Webber will line up for their second season at Onkaparinga Valley while Fuller and Georgiou will pull the boots on for the Bulldogs’ traditional rival Lobethal.
And it doesn’t stop there, with the two Hills Football League clubs enjoying an influx of talent from Norwood and Sturt the off-season.
Lobethal playing coach Fuller says there is no doubt bragging rights will heat up the on-field rivalry when the Dogs and Tigers meet under lights on Anzac Day this season.
But the quartet of close mates, who grew up in the hills, will likely share a beer with each other after the game.
Although they won’t be dressed as the Jamaican bobsleigh team from the movie Cool Runnings like they were on that “mad Monday” in 2012.
“Last year when we played Onkas it was probably the most fun I’ve had on the footy field in a long, long time,” Fuller says.
“We had a bus load of Norwood boys come up, there was about 20 of them, and they were just hurling abuse from the sidelines and it was good fun.
“I reckon the crowd will be even bigger this year. I love playing against them (Onkas), it should be great.”
When the traditional rivals meet there could be up to nine ex-Redlegs and four former Double Blues taking to the field.
Fuller took the player/coach role at Lobethal last year, finishing second bottom, but hopes the Tigers can “shake up the comp” this season.
He has added Georgiou, three-time Norwood premiership big man Brady Dawe and Harry Viney to his side.
Dual Sturt flag winners Aidan Riley and Jack Osborn have also signed at the Tigers while another Double Blue involved in those premierships, John Greenslade, has joined Onkas.
Jefferies, a Dogs junior, and Webber signed at Onkaparinga last season after SANFL retirement along with another Redleg, Joe Beilby.
They will be joined in 2020 by fellow Norwood alumni Ed Smart and Lochie Peter.
Onkas struggled in 2018 and finished seventh, before charging up the ladder last season but eventually falling to competition powerhouse Hahndorf in the grand final.
Jefferies, who went back to the Dogs to play with his brother, believes both they and Lobethal can challenge the Magpies.
“Everyone last year was really up and about and its just carried over to this year,” Jefferies says.
“It does make it interesting with Alex and Brady joining Matt at Lobey, plus the Sturt boys that have come up as well.
“There was a group of us who player nearly 15 years together at Norwood and we always joked about going back and making our own team so we don’t have to split up.
“We’re all definitely looking forward to that Anzac Day game.”
But both Onkas, Lobethal and six other HFL clubs will be chasing the dominant Hahndorf, winners of four of the past five division one flags.
SANFL IN THE HFL
Lobethal
Matt Fuller (Norwood)
Alex Georgiou (Norwood)
Brady Dawe (Norwood)
Harry Viney (Norwood)
Aidan Riley (Sturt)
Jack Osborn (Sturt)
Henry Voigt (Sturt)
Onkaparinga Valley
Ben Jefferies (Norwood)
Tim Webber (Norwood)
Ed Smart (Norwood)
Lochie Peter (Norwood)
Joe Beilby (Norwood)
John Greenslade (Sturt)