Bundoora has added a flying young Queenslander to fill a major need for 2025

Bundoora have secured a flying young gun out of Queensland that coach Heath Scotland believes fills a major need as the Bulls look to jump back up the ladder.

Morningside Panthers QAFL player Ben McCarthy. Photo: Supplied

Bundoora has filled a major need with a VFL-hopeful coming down from Queensland to join the Bulls.

Brisbane Lions Academy product Ben McCarthy has signed on at Yulong Reserve for 2025, bolstering the club as it looks to jump back up the NFNL Division 1 ladder.

The 20-year-old half-back was rated alongside the likes of Jaspa Fletcher and Bodhi Uwland as one of the top talents in Queensland in 2021 and represented the state at the Under-17 National Championships.

He’s since played consistent senior football at QAFL club Morningside.

Bundoora coach Heath Scotland said McCarthy was the type of player the club needed.

Ben McCarthy at Morningside. Picture: Supplied

Riley Greene has signed at Bundoora.

“(Half-back) was a deficiency of ours last season,” Scotland said.

“We had young players, Brandon Compt and Harry Butterworth who are young did great for us last year, so it will be pivotal for us to challenge teams with ball in hand.

“We feel we’ve improved in that area.

“Ben is keen to push for a spot on the VFL list so he sees us as a bit of a platform or stepping stone to play Division 1 footy and keep improving.

“He’s a really driven player so I’m really looking forward to him joining our group, he’s in that age demographic that we’ve been recruiting.”

McCarthy is the latest in a long-line of off-season additions.

Joel Harris, Lachlan Urbon, Riley Greene, Adrian D’Intinosante, Marc Coscarella, Tristan Mancuso, Bailey Tome, James Sekulovski and Jamie Koutoufides have all come on board.

Bundoora will have a strong Queensland flavour with McCarthy and Greene joining Jack Briskey.

“We’ve signed Riley Greene from the (Northern) Bullants who is a mate of (McCarthy) in Queensland, so we’ve got a few guys – Jack Briskey is from up there as well.

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“That connection has been pretty fruitful for us this off-season.”

Bundoora will return to training on January 29.

As well as the confirmed recruits, the Bulls have added several more players since last season to improve depth across the board in 2025.

The club hopes for stronger showings at reserve grade and under-19 level to improve its overall health after the reserves went winless and the 19s won two games.