EFL: Mav Weller signs at Doncaster East for Premier Division 2020 season
Doncaster East missed the signature of David Armitage, but it has secured a recently retired ex-AFL player for the EFL Premier Division 2020 season.
Local Footy
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Doncaster East will have two former St Kilda players on its list in 2020.
Mav Weller, 27, will join fellow ex-Carlton and Saints defender Sam Rowe at Zerbes Reserve next year, signing at the EFL Premier Division club on Tuesday night.
The former Gold Coast, St Kilda and Richmond player made 123 appearances at AFL level across nine seasons after he was initially taken as a rookie by the Suns.
Weller retired at the end of last season on the high of Richmond’s VFL premiership.
Doncaster East coach Steve Buckle said Weller would play as an inside midfielder, also serving as an assistant coach.
He said the club had been working on his signature for a month.
“We touched base with him shortly after that (retirement) and he knows Tom Appleby from our footy club and one of my best mates, who lives in Queensland, manages his brother (Lachie),” Buckle said.
“He was obviously putting in a good word for us as well.”
Former St Kilda midfielder David Armitage was also on Doncaster East’s recruiting wishlist before he signed with VAFA club Collegians.
“Mav was our No.1 (target) anyway,” Buckle said.
“He was the one we made first contact with and we would have obviously loved to get Armitage as well but the whole time, our No.1 priority was Mav.
“We thought with what he was going to offer us as a midfield leader and an inside bull in there — he’s got aspirations to coach — that really appealed to us.
“Armitage would have been icing on the cake.”
Rowe and Weller will take up a combined 12 points in the Lions’ player points cap, but Buckle estimated Doncaster East “was still sitting at about 40 points”.
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He said the majority of its recruiting was complete as the club prepares for its first tilt at the competition’s top flight following this year’s Division 1 premiership.
“We’ve still got more room if we needed to but I think that will probably do us,” he said.
“We’re still chasing some homegrown players — some one-pointers — and surround these experienced heads with some kids, try get some speed and kids who want to learn and develop and take us to the next level.”
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