MPNFL: Dromana signs ex-AFL Tiger Jake Aarts and gains Sam Fowler and Sam Fletcher full-time
MPNFL club Dromana has revealed how it beat “a hundred” clubs to the signature of former Richmond livewire Jake Aarts.
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Dromana coach Matt Price called it “a nice little Christmas present”.
He was referring to a phone call from Jake Aarts on Xmas eve, pledging his commitment to the Mornington Peninsula league Division 1 club for 2023.
The ex-Richmond 42-gamer was inundated with offers from suburban clubs after being delisted by the Tigers in October.
But after training twice with Dromana at the start of summer, he signed.
Two of Aarts’ closest mates, Jordy Andrews and Kane Hughes, play at Dromana.
“He’s going to be dangerous at this level,” Price said.
“He discussed about going back to VFL…but it was more about him stepping away, getting back into his carpentry and he’s going to move down the peninsula, a bit of a change of lifestyle, and we were just a really good fit for what he’s doing.
“And he’s got a couple of mates at the club so we had a bit of an in with him there. We had a couple of interviews with him and he trained with us a couple of times and just really liked where we were at as a group which is understandable, we’ve got a really good young group, really talented.
“He thought he could help out.’’
Aarts, 28, played some exhilarating football at AFL level as a small forward after joining the Tigers in the 2018 rookie draft.
Price said he would play both in the midfield and up forward for Dromana, giving the side a sharp edge.
“He’s going to be a pretty hard match-up forward but we don’t want to waste him as just a permanent forward,” he said.
“I’m sure there will be times when he will be one-out forward and he’ll be impossible to play on and there will be times when he’s playing midfield and getting the ball out of the middle.
“He will play a bit of both.
“The couple of nights he trained with us it was another level up, his standards.
“He could make a fool of a couple at this level.”
The Aarts signing headlines several big announcements at Dromana.
The Tigers have confirmed they’ll have ex-Collingwood VFL forward Sam Fowler and former Gold Coast Suns AFL-listed Sam Fletcher full-time in 2023.
“The two Sam’s coming back will be huge,” Price said.
“Both of them are just a bit over the VFL system and they want to travel a bit in the off season, and when you’re in the VFL system you can’t really travel in that off season.
“Fowler is up in Darwin playing footy and travelling.
“Fletcher is heading over to Western Australia for a couple of months.
“You just don’t get that freedom when you’re doing AFL or VFL.
“They’ll both be back in March and they’ll be with us full time so they will be really big additions for us.”
Price said Dromana, which finished fourth last season, was set to announce more key signings in the weeks ahead.
“We’ve got a really good list now,’’ Price said.
“The last couple of years we’ve been playing a few kids and slowly building. We’ve got a really solid list of 35 to 45 now.
“I think the whole competition will see Dromana in a different light next season, with seniors, reserves and 19s being really competitive.’’
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