Local footy: Brian Lake hopes to play for Caroline Springs in 2021 after ban
Three-time AFL premiership star Brian Lake was banned from playing football at any level last year, but plans to have him running out in the Western Region Football League in 2021 are in full swing.
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Brian Lake back at the Lakers?
The three-time AFL premiership player is set to make a bid to return to the field in 2021 after he was banned from playing football at all levels.
Lake was de-registered after copping a two-week suspension in May last year, but Caroline Springs is confident he will be running out for the Western Region Football League Division 1 outfit next season.
The national deregistration policy states players who accumulate 16 weeks or more of suspensions throughout their career will be automatically barred from competing at any level.
Former AFL players are given a 25 per cent discount, with last year’s penalty for striking tipping Lake over the threshold.
The 38-year-old’s penalties stretch across more than two decades.
“We’ve ticked all the boxes and Brian has. It’s not only good for our club, but also local football and the WRFL,” Caroline Springs football director Marc Raak said.
“To have someone like that back playing local football would be great.
“He’s keen a bit later in his career to come back and play for Caroline Springs. He was a big part of our pre-season training when he was out there (before the 2020 season was cancelled), so we see him as a good recruit.
“We’ll go through the process with the AFL to get him re-registered and go through the appeals, but we think we’ve got a very good case.”
Lake was unable to fight the suspension for 12 months, but Raak was hopeful the matter would go to appeal early next year.
Lake has managed 28 games for Caroline Springs since his AFL retirement and played a key role in their Division 2 premiership in 2016, finishing the campaign with 52 majors.
He made 251 AFL appearances –— 197 for the Western Bulldogs and 54 for Hawthorn — and played a key role in the Hawks’ three-peat, claiming the North Smith Medal for best-afield in the 2013 grand final.
The decorated defender was selected in the All-Australian team in 2009 and 2010, while he claimed the Bulldogs’ best-and-fairest in 2007.
Raak said Lake would be a significant inclusion for the Lakers, who have re-signed coach Brodie Holland.
“He’s won us a couple of games off his own boot,” he said.
“Do we play him forward or back? That’s a good headache for Brodie to worry about.
“Just to have that flexibility for someone to start back or go deep forward or even in the ruck, that just adds height and strength around the ground.
“He also adds guidance for the young kids, letting them know what they’re doing right and wrong and teaching them as they go.
“I think the development side of that is huge for us as well.”
Caroline Springs have been building in Division 1 since their premiership, claiming two wins in 2017, four in 2018 and six in 2019.
This year’s recruits Jakob De Winter, Jy Lambley and former Adelaide player Will Young have re-committed.
Big man Brock McGregor has also arrived from Essendon District league club Keilor, having spent the past two years under Mick McGuane.
Ex-Richmond player Andrew Browne has returned to take the No.1 ruck spot at the Blues, with McGregor making the decision to fill the Lakers’ void in the middle.
The young gun was a draft prospect in 2017 and played 18 games for Keilor in 2018 before an injury-interrupted 2019.
Raak described the signing of McGregor as the “icing on the cake” of an impressive recruiting campaign since the end of last season.
“After sitting down and having a good chat with him and his partner, they were actually looking at moving into the Caroline Springs area as well to settle down,” Raak said.
“We were rapt to get his signature.
“He’s had one or two injuries with his knee, but he’s all clear now. He’s in good nick and looking forward to pre-season, whenever that starts.
“We think we’ve got good flexibility in our team now and a bit more height as well, so we’re really looking forward to 2021.”
The club is also bullish about its stable of young players as it looks to break into the top five.
The likes of Cody Raak, Steve Kyriazis, Zen Christofi, Tyler Gysberts, Jesse Cavanagh and Tate Wood headline the young talent.
“We haven’t been shy talking about our kids coming through,” Marc Raak said.
“We’ve got the under-19 core who have been A grade through all the juniors and are coming through to senior football now.
“I think we had 11 at the Western Jets in this year’s squad.
“We’re rapt with the program, and there’s been a lot of hard work over the last five years watching this group develop, and we’re really starting to see the fruits of it now.”
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