Country footy: Ex-St Kilda star Jarryn Geary signs for BFNL’s Eaglehawk

A former AFL captain is set to reunite with his brother at a country club next season but a decision is yet to be made on just how big his role will be. Here’s why.

It’s the double homecoming Eaglehawk has been waiting over a decade for.

Former St Kilda captain Jarryn Geary is returning to his junior club next season in the Bendigo Football League alongside his brother Kallen.

Jarryn will be an assistant to senior coach Trav Matheson with it still to be decided whether the 207-game AFL veteran will pull on the boots.

Kallen has been one of the stars of the local competition in recent years with Strathfieldsaye having tasted premiership success this year.

Eaglehawk president James Hanley said Jarryn would need to overcome several barriers to make sure he donned the Hawks jersey next year.

His last three seasons at the top level were hampered by injury before announcing his retirement earlier this year.

“It’s not 100 per cent confirmed if he will be in a playing role,” Hanley said.

“He’s not in a position (to play currently) and had some surgery to potentially get him in a position to play.

“It’s really just a wait and see, he’s got a fair few hurdles to jump before he commits to playing.”

Hanley said Geary had been keen to come back to the club since he was recruited by St Kilda.

The president with Geary on board Eaglehawk can again become one of the Bendigo league’s premier teams.

They missed finals last season after being grand finalists in 2019.

“He’ll bring a lot of expertise from an on and off field point of view in terms of strategy and take the club’s professionalism to another level,” Hanley said.

“We’ve re-signed all of our senior players from last season that was the first thing we did.

“We’ve got a pretty reasonable list and were hampered with injuries at bad times last year which had an impact on our ability to match it with the top sides in the league.

“Now, we want to be in a position to compete with the top three.”

Jarryn Geary is returning to his junior club. Picture: Michael Klein

Geary will also help with the junior part of the club, which Hanley admits needs improvement.

“This is about getting some professionalism at junior level,” he said.

“We used to have a strong junior program and we admit it is not where it needs to be.

“To have Jarryn there should set us up to identify and develop the talent into the club into the senior ranks.”

The Geary brothers became the latest recruits unveiled by Eaglehawk with former Montmorency ruckman Connor Dalgleish joining the club.