How a trip to London helped Hurstbridge secure Queensland midfielder

A friendship struck up in London has helped deliver Hurstbridge a midfield boost with Queenslander Ben Beaven signing on for the 2021 NFL Division 1 season.

After losing Tom Simpson to Queensland, the Sunshine State has given back to NFL Division 1 club Hurstbridge.

The Bridges have secured Ben Beaven for 2021, a tough inside midfielder who has compiled an impressive resume in the QAFL, NEAFL and AFL London.

Beaven is a three-time best-and-fairest winner at Sandgate, premiership player at Morningside and played for and coached Wimbledon in the AFL London competition.

After returning to Australia he suited up for Zillmere last season before moving to Melbourne.

It was at Wimbledon that Beaven met Hurstbridge premiership player Joel Dale and he was quick to reconnect after moving to Melbourne.

“We were a little bit lucky in a way with one of our boys going overseas and played under Ben in London,” Bridges coach Jarrod Tilley said.

“Ben’s originally from Queensland and made contact with (Joel) when he moved down to Melbourne and said ‘would you be interested if I came and played with you’.

“We looked him up and he’s got some very impressive credentials … and he’ll fit in perfectly for us.”

Beaven will add some grunt to the Bridges’ midfield that is now without 2019 best-and-fairest runner-up Simpson.

He joins Jack Stewart, Tom Grimes, Tyson Old and Rohan Davies as new faces at Ben Frilay Oval since the end of 2019.

“This is coming from Joel, he said he’s a bit of a hard unit and on our ground there’s a lot of contested footy, so it should work in our favour,” Tilley said.

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“We’re going to have a lot of young kids going through there like Will Cookson and Ethan Taylor who are only 19.

“He’ll give him a leader’s head in there, give us some experience and help out the young kids, so it will be good.

“With Tommy moving up to Queensland for a year, he wanted to try something different, and apparently going really well, so hopefully next year they can play together.”

Hurstbridge will be looking to build on a strong showing in 2019 when it finished eighth with six wins.