EFL: Rob Petracca joins Silvan for Division 4 2020 season
Decorated midfielder Rob Petracca will resume his playing career at Silvan in 2020 after having a break this season.
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Silvan coach Trent Martin has tipped decorated midfielder Rob Petracca to “dominate” the EFL Division 4 competition in 2020.
The Cats announced Petracca’s signing over the weekend after a fine career at Blackburn, Mitcham and North Ringwood.
Martin said Petracca could have a profound impact at Silvan, which missed the top four by .55 per cent this year.
“I think on the smaller ovals, the powerful body he’s got … the teams that have been powerful in these lower comps have had players like that dominate,” Martin said.
“I can’t see why he can’t do that for us.”
Petracca established himself as a star midfielder at Blackburn, where he was runner-up in the 2010 Chandler Medal and named in the club’s Team of the Decade.
He played in Mitcham’s 2015 Division 3 premiership and has spent the past two years at North Ringwood as an assistant coach.
Petracca will serve as a playing assistant coach at Silvan after serving in an off-field capacity at the Saints this season.
“He said he wanted to take a midfield role, which I identified we needed another big-bodied midfielder and someone to help coach the midfield because it’s certainly not my strength,” Martin said.
“He ticked all the boxes for us.”
Martin said the strong onballer’s signature had been more than a year in the making.
“We identified him when Silvan was in third division (in 2015) and Mitcham was pretty powerful and won the flag the year Silvan was up there,” he said.
“He was the premier onballer in that comp and he was a really good fit with some mutual connections at the footy club.
“We had a really good go at him last year but he wanted to get into a bit of coaching, which he was offered an opportunity at North Ringwood.”
Martin said Silvan had retained its list.
The Cats claimed this year’s under-19s premiership, and Martin said the club would invest in its emerging talent.
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Matthew Low, Matteo D’Alfonso, Tyson Bissels, Tyler Chapman and Lachlan Lynch will become senior players in 2020 after playing in the grand final victory.
“There was probably six or eight kids there that could have played 16, 18 games of senior footy this year,” he said.
“They’ve all moved into the seniors and we’ve re-signed all them, so there’s six or eight recruits without even trying.”
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