Luke Brown, Tea Tree Gully eyeing Adelaide Footy League premiership

An Adelaide Footy League club looks set to compete for a top flight premiership in 2023 as a former Crow and star recruit gets back to his best.

An Adelaide Footy League club seems set for finals success in season 2023 after receiving a major boost from its star AFL recruit.

Returning Tea Tree Gully coach Justin Maschotta believed the Gullies could rediscover a winning formula as former Crow Luke Brown continued to tear up the pre-season track.

The 29-year-old defender, who played 189 AFL games for Adelaide, joined his junior club in October last year and has impressed teammates and coaching staff so much that Maschotta believed he could still be playing at the highest level.

“Coming back from AFL level, he hasn’t dropped off at all, he’s elite,” Maschotta said.

“He’s a top level runner and has been in the elite bracket with all his times so far.

Former Adelaide gun Luke Brown has impressed during his pre-season at Tea Tree Gully. Picture: Sarah Reed

“The reality is if the Crows were at a different stage of their program or playing finals footy he’d probably still be there so we’re really glad he chose to come back to us this early and we realise it presents an unbelievable opportunity for us as a footy club.”

While Brown has moved straight from an AFL list to a community club, he has been committed to the program and the plan put in place by Maschotta at Tea Tree Gully as the club aims for its first division one flag since 2018.

Maschotta said the gun recruit was as hungry and committed as ever for success.

“Luke is a pretty stoic sort of character but on the field he’s very serious and off the field he’s shown a lot of excitement about what we can achieve as a club,” he said.

“He holds himself to extremely high standards and he’s extremely driven, whatever he can do to help us he is willing to do.

Tea Tree Gully star Alex McKay and coach Justin Maschotta celebrate their 2018 division one premiership. The club looks set for more success in the near future. Picture: Brenton Edwards

“One of the big things eating away at him is that he’s missed out on two premierships with his mates and with us, he’s really excited to be joining us but he’s also super hungry to reach that goal.”

Maschotta also believed club leaders such as Alex McKay, Blake Penney and Chad Schoenmakers were in store for big seasons and could lead the Gullies youth through a successful campaign.

“Alex feels like a new recruit for us, he’s got the weight of coaching off of his shoulders now and is looking really good, and Blake and Chad are leading from the front.

“We’ve got a couple other recruits, like Riley Verrall from Norwood, who are showing promise as well.

“We’ve got a lot of young kids coming through which is one of the big things for us too – we really want to provide education and opportunity for the guys in that 17-year-old age bracket to develop and earn opportunities, so a fair bit of the pre-season program has been about that.”

The club will begin match simulations and trial matches in the coming weeks.