Gippsland league: Nick Graham, Jed Lamb sign with Warragul
Former Carlton midfielder Nick Graham is going back to where it all started, signing to play in the Gippsland league.
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Make that two ex-Blues to boost Warragul.
The Gippsland league club announced on Monday that it had secured Jed Lamb.
Now it has signed another former Carlton player, with Nick Graham joining the Seagulls as they build under coach Dean Alger.
Both recruits are from Gippsland and went through the Power Under 18 program.
Graham, 27, finished up with Carlton at the end of 2018 after playing 48 matches.
The midfielder was drafted at No 54 in 2012 after winning the Morrish Medal in the TAC Cup.
After his delisting from Carlton the right-footer joined Darley in the Ballarat league and then signed with West Footscray for the 2020 season that never got going.
He played with Spotswood this year in the Western Region competition and was named the Division 1 MVP, as judged by the coaches.
Graham polled 18 votes to defeat former VFL players Scott Greenhough and Hoppers Crossing’s Jack Dorgan.
Lamb, 29, had stints at the Sydney Swans, GWS and Carlton after being drafted from the Power.
He was pick No 21 in the 2012 national draft and wound up with 66 AFL games, 12 with the Swannies, 10 with the Giants and 44 with the Blues.
Like Graham he’s played local football since leaving the league scene.
This year he hit the headlines after kicking bags of 13 and 14 goals for White Hills in the Heathcote District league.
He slotted 58 from his 10 matches, to go with 55 goals in 2019.
Lamb and Alger go back to when Alger was coaching Nyora.
Alger said the club was chuffed to gain two experienced and class players in Graham and Lamb.
He said they would complement the Seagulls’ impressive group of young players.
Alger was encouraged by Warragul’s 2021 season.
“Wins and losses probably didn’t look too good (they were 1-9) but I thought the improvement of the guys and being such a young group, lapses in concentration and effort cost us some games,’’ he said.
“We won our last game and were looking to add a few more wins but unfortunately it all closed down and we didn’t get the opportunity.
“I think 14 of the starting side had played under 20 senior games. Our Under 18s had three or four kids playing in the NAB League and our Under 16s were on top of the ladder undefeated, so we have got some really good juniors coming through. We’ve been able to retain a lot of the past juniors. We’ve just got to get senior games into them now. And that’s where Nick and Jed will help us, with their experience and on-field leadership to guide the kids through. We’ve got two enthusiastic guys who want to dig in and make a difference to our club.’’
Alger played a lot of good senior football at Korumburra (he’s a life member of the club) and went on to coach Nyora to three grand finals and two premierships and Kilcunda-Bass to a flag in 2013. He also enjoyed finals appearances when coaching Korumburra Bena and Nilma Darnum.
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