MPFNL: How Seaford will cover the loss of Jack Lonie

Seaford believes it can turn a negative into a positive, revealing its next move after the departure of gun Jack Lonie.

Jack Lonie has left Seaford to join Cheltenham. Picture: Facebook

Seaford says it has no hard feelings towards Jack Lonie after his decision to leave the club and join Southern league premiers Cheltenham.

That’s footy, they say.

“You can’t really knock a guy for wanting to enjoy his footy and if that means that he’s going to play with some friends then so be it,” Seaford coach Rohan Bleeker said.

Bleeker was appointed Seaford coach in August and presumed he’d have the brilliant Lonie fuelling the midfield in 2024.

He has spent the past couple of months shoring up the Tigers’ list with recruits and re-signings and admits best-and-fairest winner Lonie’s decision last week to leave was a sledgehammer blow.

Making the loss even harder to take was the fact that ex-AFL Saint Lonie, a Seaford junior, was a one-point player.

“They’re gold,” Bleeker said.

“That’s probably the biggest thing that hurts — you lose a gun who’s a one point player.”

But Bleeker says Seaford now has an opportunity to bring in another A grader.

“We’ll go back to the recruiting drawing board and see what else is available,” he said.

Will Kennedy has joined Seaford. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/AFL Photos via Getty Images )

Harry Bould has joined Seaford from Mornington. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Bleeker said Seaford was in “a really strong position’’ after an excellent off-season of recruiting.

The Tigers have signed Beaconsfield midfielder Sam Mackinder, former Western Jets best and fairest winner Will Kennedy, Mornington premiership player Harry Bould, Karingal inside midfielder Seth Kelly and Jak Nardino, an explosive midfielder from Beaumaris with an ability to break open games.

“We’ve retained our VFL boys, we’ve gone and gotten some guys with some VFL experience, gotten in some really good young talent from other clubs and retained our whole list,” he said.

“At our training this week we had 75 guys on the track on Monday and Wednesday, so from a players point of view we’re in a really strong position.”

Bleeker is urging his Tigers players to aim high.

He uses his former club Dromana as an example of what can be achieved; Dromana was in a similar position to Seaford after it finished eighth in 2017 and turned things around dramatically to win premierships in 2018 and ‘19.

“We’ve just now got to do what we’ve got to do,’’ he said.