GFNL superstars Matt Boag and Blake Sutterby leave Newtown & Chillwell for BFNL clubs
Two of the best players in the GFNL have decided to leave Newtown & Chillwell, joining strong BFNL clubs. The two coaches reveal how they got the deals done.
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Newtown & Chillwell has lost two GFNL superstars with Matt Boag and Blake Sutterby both defecting to BFNL clubs.
Boag, the Eagles’ 2023 best-and-fairest winner, has been poached by his junior club in Torquay, while Sutterby will return to Geelong Amateur, where he won back-to-back flags in 2015 and 2016.
The pair are two of the best midfielders in the competition, with Boag averaging 33.9 disposls, 6.8 clearances and a touch under a goal per game, while Sutterby averaged 31 disposals, 13 contested possessions and eight clearances himself.
Boag and Sutterby came in at two and eight respectively in Geelong Advertiser’s Top 100 GFNL players for 2023.
Sutterby’s move comes after the bombshell signing of VFL gun Tom Gribble, with the pair set to form an ominous combination for the Ammos in 2024.
It’s a significant blow to the Newtown & Chillwell’s midfield stocks after they were well beaten at the clinches in their elimination final loss to Leopold, losing the contested possession count 149-70.
Newtown & Chillwell confirmed on Thursday night that Damien McMahon will continue as senior coach, with three-time premiership Cat David Wojcinski added as defensive coach after leading the Eagles’ U18 side to a premiership last month.
SUTTERBY’S CONNECTIONS
Ammos co-coach Dan Holyroyd said the club has always kept a relationship with Sutterby in the hope that he would return home.
Sutterby is good friends with captain Harry Kershaw, is close with president Simon Farrell and is very familiar with most of the playing group from his days at Ammos.
Improving their engine room was a clear focus in the off-season and the Ammos will be vying to contend for the premiership with the likes of Torquay, Drysdale and Barwon Heads after landing Boag and Gribble.
“Blake’s obviously an Ammos guy so we’ve always kept a relationship with him, he’s someone we speak to every year and monitor how he’s going up at Newtown.
“He’s still playing good footy but something the Ammos have done – even before my time – if players want to play at a higher level you give them your blessing and wish them all the best and just keep the relationship.
“So that when the time is right, like it is now with Blake, they want to come back and play with their mates there’s a relationship there at the footy club.
“He is good mates with Harry Kershaw our captain, they are close mates. I think they went to high school together. He’d know 50 per cent of the playing group from when he was there.”
TIGERS’ NO.1 PRIORITY
Torquay premiership coach Dom Gleeson said he has been in contact with Boag for the past five years, asking the question to him at the end of each season about coming home.
After securing their No.1 target in Boag, Gleeson said it is unlikely to be an active off-season for the Tigers with plenty of development to come from within from their talented young group.
Boag will be used primarily as a midfielder but Gleeson is excited by his potential as a forward, with the former Eagle expected to rotate inside 50.
It’s a huge boost for the Tigers who are already the team to beat in 2024 after losing just one game last year on the way to a premiership.
“We are super excited to get him back home to Torquay,” Gleeson said.
“Boagy has got some friends within the current list and he and I have been in contact for, I want to say five years. We’ve reached out to him every year for about five years and he’s been loving his time at Newtown and he’s got a lot out of that, played under some great coaching.
“He’s developed his craft, turning 29 next year I think this is the perfect time for him to come back and, as he said, give back to the club that gave him his first opportunity.
“I’m pretty keen to see Boagy forward as well, he’ll play a lot of midfield and I think eventually he’ll play everywhere but I see him as a rotating forwad-midfielder.
“We’re really content with the list, we’re not actively in the market – we’ll always speak to people if we hear they’re living in town. Boagy was our No.1, luckily we got him.”
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Originally published as GFNL superstars Matt Boag and Blake Sutterby leave Newtown & Chillwell for BFNL clubs
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