MPFNL: Ex-AFL forward Ned Cahill commits full time to Frankston YCW in 2025

A leading Mornington Peninsula league club has secured an ex-AFL Bomber for the entirety of the 2025 season, as well as signing a former Brisbane Lion.

Essendon's Ned Cahill (right) celebrates his first goal with Essendon's Darcy Parish. Picture: Sarah Reed

The Stonecats felt like singing from the rooftops on Tuesday morning.

Former Essendon small forward Ned Cahill pledged his full time commitment to Frankston YCW for 2025.

The 23-year-old played 52 games at Carlton in the VFL in the past three seasons.

“We’ve been talking to him all off season trying to work out what he’s going to do because he was really undecided whether he was going to go to VFL again or spend some time travelling and so on,” Frankston YCW coach Paul Goonan said on Tuesday.

“And we’ve just come to an agreement that he’s doing some travelling in March — he’s just been overseas recently and he’s got another trip planned in March — and then he’s available for the year. We’re really excited to have him.”

Ned Cahill. Picture: Sarah Reed

Mitch Cox at a Brisbane Lions AFL training session in 2022. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Frankston YCW has also signed former Brisbane AFL listed mid-forward Mitch Cox, who will make the Stonecats his home club while playing at Williamstown in the VFL.

“Mitch is excited, he’s asking me about training and he wants to do some training with us as well as Williamstown if it fits in,” Goonan said.

“So he’s not just signing with a club for the sake of having a local club’s name, he’s pretty invested in getting involved which is why we were so excited about signing him.”

Former GWS Giant and North Melbourne AFL player Aiden Bonar has also made YCW his home club while playing at Williamstown in the VFL.

Goonan has a long-standing relationship with Cahill, who played six AFL games with the Bombers in 2020, and said it was a thrill to reunite.

“I’ve coached Ned Cahill all through juniors (at Mt Eliza) so it feels great for me. The Cahill family has a close connection to our family, it’s a really exciting time,’’ Goonan said.

“The two Cahill boys and my two boys at YCW together, they’ll cause some trouble but they’ll have a lot of fun as well. It’s good to see them playing together.

“Ned is a front half player, he will do some mid time with us but predominately he’s a forward, almost like a Sam Fowler from Dromana, that style.

“He was drafted as a small forward. He has silly skills on both sides and he has a habit of kicking goals. We’ll play him in the front half as much as we can.”