EFL: Nunawading skipper Jordan Winter signs at Surrey Park while Chris Smith departs
Surrey Park has landed a skipper of a rival club in a coup for the EFL Division 4 outfit, but has waved goodbye to its most potent forward...
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A rival Division 4 captain has landed at Surrey Park in a major coup for its on-ball brigade, but the club’s most dangerous forward has departed.
Nunawading skipper Jordan Winter has crossed to the fellow Division 4 club following three seasons at the Lions where he played 52 matches and regularly featured among the best.
He was selected in the Division 4 Team of the Year in 2019 in a breakthrough season for the club where it snapped a 62-game losing streak.
Surrey Park senior coach David Jensen lauded Winter’s addition and said he would add much-needed experience into the line-up which made its first finals series since 2006 last season.
“One thing that’ll be huge for us is the leadership, because we’re a very young side,” Jensen said.
Meanwhile, leading goalkicker Chris Smith has moved on to Caulfield in the Southern league, after booting 80 and 82 goals respectively across the past two seasons.
Smith was a key to the club’s push for its first finals series in 13 years in 2019, earning his second consecutive Team of the Year selection.
Jensen said his decision was a “regretful” one to make, but was made for family reasons.
“It was a big decision for him – he loves being at Surrey, but he lives literally around the corner (from Caulfield) and he found it convenient,” Jensen said.
“It was a big, regretful decision but one that had to be made for his best interests.”
Jensen said the club was working towards securing a replacement in attack, with the Panthers also faced with covering for the retirement of key tall Michael Paolini.
The first-year coach also noted the addition of key tall Darcy Griffiths who has returned from Premier club Balwyn following 16 reserves matches last season, and is expected to play a role in defence.
“That’s 140 goals that we’ve lost between him (Smith) and Paolini,” Jensen said.
“We’ve got some really good players come into the club as well.
“We should have some under-19s filtering through now as well because there’s definitely some talent there.”
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