Montmorency tweaks its coaching set-up and lands a big-name recruit

Montmorency has landed the first punch in the Northern league recruiting arms race as a VFL young gun signs on full-time for 2022.

Liam Buxton in action for Vermont. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Montmorency has landed the first punch in the Northern Football League recruiting arms race.

In a stunning coup, the NFL Division 1 club has snared former VFL ruckman Liam Wale-Buxton from Eastern Premier Division minor premier Vermont.

Buxton, 25, played 15 games for Casey in 2019 and had signed for SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens for 2020 before COVID saw him remain in Victoria.

The star big man’s form for the Eagles in the opening eight rounds saw him return to the VFL with Richmond but a shoulder injury on debut ended his season prematurely.

However, such was Wale-Buxton’s dominance in the first half of the year he still earned EFL Team of the Year honours and was ranked 38th in Leader Local Footy’s top 150 local footballers of 2021.

He’ll slot straight into the Magpies’ line-up as the No. 1 ruckman, allowing newly appointed co-captain Stef Uzelac to move to centre half-back.

Montmorency coach Garry Ramsay was excited to unleash Wale-Buxton on the competition.

“It’s fantastic, as a ruckman he’s exactly what we needed,” he said.

“Stef will go to centre half-back and then you’ve got Connor Dalgleish who can go to centre half-forward or as a utility, it just strengthens everything up.

“We realised we had some deficiencies if we were going to be a serious contender and we think our young blokes will improve more with some bigger, more mature bodies in there as well.”

The Magpies finished the season in sixth and would have played finals under the NFL’s expanded finals plans but the season was ultimately cancelled due to Melbourne’s ongoing lockdown.

Key recruit Ben Kennedy will not return in 2022, the former Collingwood and Melbourne forward seriously injuring his hamstring in the season-opening win over Northcote Park and has moved to South Australia.

However, in a significant boost Sam Binion has signed on full-time after being VFL listed by Coburg this season.

The promising midfielder played two games for the Lions this year but will focus solely on the Magpies after being appointed co-captain alongside Uzelac.

Jesse Donaldson has been appointed Montmorency on-field coach for 2022. Picture: Nathan McNeill

“Sam has signed full-time with us this year, which is fantastic for the footy club,” Ramsay said.

“He’s only going to get better, he’s got a really big upside.”

It’s part of a coaching and leadership shake-up at Montmorency Park.

Star midfielder Jesse Donaldson relinquishes the captaincy and has been installed as “on-field coach”, working closely with Ramsay.

Ramsay said the move would benefit the club long-term.

“We’ve created a new position, on-field coach, that we think will create more leadership,” he said.

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“I’ll work with Jesse and teach him all the aspects of coaching and that we create more leaders with our younger fellas.

“It’s exciting for Jesse, as he gets towards the end, he loves his footy and it will be good for him to learn about coaching.

“It will be good for him, while he’s still playing, to help the next leaders of Montmorency rather than when he’s finished put the next people in.”

Northern Bullants midfielder Will Golds is also expected to re-commit at Montmorency Park after crossing from VAFA club Old Xaverians mid-season.