NFL 2019: South Morang holds firm over Daniel Caruso’s move to Thomastown
Contracted midfielder Daniel Caruso remains in limbo with South Morang refusing to budge on its stance to deny him a clearance to Thomastown.
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Contracted midfielder Daniel Caruso remains in limbo with South Morang refusing to budge on its stance to deny him a clearance to Thomastown.
Caruso, who finished runner-up in the Northern Football League Division 3 best and fairest last season, was announced as a signing by the Bears in October.
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Thomastown filed a clearance for Caruso on November 27 but it was knocked back on December 3.
South Morang coach Gary Hall said the club had been weighing up whether to hold Caruso to his contract for 2019.
“You have got to hold people to account,” Hall said.
“The club has invested time and money with him. If he wasn’t contracted, fine, but he is.
“You’ve got to play a bit of hard ball.”
Hall said he had not been directly involved in discussions regarding Caruso’s future, but believed the on-baller had been training at Thomastown.
“I have just been letting the committee, the president Chris (Donnelly), take hold of that,” he said.
“He’s in control of that business. But he was contracted and times have changed now. We’re not just going to give people away.”
A West Preston-Lakeside junior, Caruso has played 52 games for South Morang in the past three years and kicked 48 goals.
“There’s a little bit to play out there, I would say,” Hall said.
“That’s why the league put contracts in place wasn’t it? I don’t know how that’s going to go.”
The Lions have welcome back key defender Jake Potter from Montmorency, but otherwise expect few changes to the team which went down by seven points to Panton Hill in last year’s preliminary final.
“We’ll probably get stronger because of Jake coming back and just with the boys being young,” Hall said.
“You expect them each year to improve. I expect them to be up around the mark again.”
Hall said Potter would be a significant inclusion after the club’s defence ranked fourth behind St Mary’s, Mernda and Panton Hill last season.
“We were a little bit undersized last year in the back line,” he said.
“To get a defender such as him back from Division 1 after a season is really good for the club.”
South Morang starts its campaign on Saturday, April 6 against Kilmore.
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