Eastern Football Netball League: Rowville players set for boost with looming VFL season
It’s not game over for upwards of 10 Rowville Hawks aligned with VFL clubs for the impending state league season, including the return of a Box Hill premiership star.
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Premier Eastern club Rowville is set to see upwards of 10 of its players in the VFL system, with the state league set to kick off on August 1.
The host of Hawks include marquee recruit and former St. Kilda midfielder/forward Nathan Wright (Sandringham), Liam Mackie, Trent Mynott, Anthony Brolic and Chayce Black (Box Hill), Bailey Lambert (Frankston) and Nick Lowden and Kyle Stainthorpe (Casey).
Senior coach John Brown said there was a mix of players he had expected to see in action at Rowville before the EFNL season was cancelled, while others were expected to play the majority of their footy with their VFL alignment.
“We’ve got a fair cross section of boys actually still getting some footy in at VFL level,” Brown said.
“There’s some that we weren’t expecting to see a hell of a lot of with the likes of Trent Mynott – we would’ve assumed he’d play a significant part at Box Hill.”
Midfielder Anthony Brolic has rekindled his relationship with Box Hill, and Brown said there might be more players set to try their hand at the state level.
Brolic, a Rowville junior, played in Box Hill’s 2018 premiership side and was named in the 2017 VFL Team of the Year before returning to Seebeck Oval for the 2019 season where he took out the club best and fairest.
“Anthony Brolic wasn’t aligned with Box Hill but they’ve contacted him when they’ve needed to top up their list by I think an extra four players,” Brown said.
“He’s only just made that decision (last week) after speaking with me, that he’s going to go back and play the remainder of the season with them.
“We’ve got another two senior players that we’ve actually spoken to as well that a couple of VFL clubs have approached, that we may send off to that level as well.”
Full contact training is set to resume for VFL clubs on July 13, with the season consisting of seven rounds and a top-four finals series run over three weeks. The grand final will be held on October 10.
Despite the shortened season, Brown said it would be beneficial for his players involved.
“We just believe that if we’re encouraging them to head off and be training at VFL level and get the opportunity to play, it’ll be advantageous, if only for seven games,” he said.
“The benefit of the VFL playing and myself not coaching, is being able to watch our VFL players play if I’m not coaching (in the EFNL) on the weekend, and being able to identify some potential recruits and then being able to watch them play.”
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