West Preston-Lakeside adds three impressive recruits for new season
West Preston-Lakeside has stocked up with three key recruits, including a back-to-back league medallist and a Tasmanian club champion.
Northern
Don't miss out on the headlines from Northern. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A back-to-back league best-and-fairest, a SANFL talent and a TSL gun headline West Preston-Lakeside’s recruiting.
The Roosters have stocked up with three strong additions for the 2023 NFL Division 1 season, looking to reclaim the premiership title it lost last year.
Reigning two-time Northern Division 3 best-and-fairest Chris Ryall will step up to top-flight football this season, crossing from Kilmore.
North Hobart best-and-fairest winner Callum Kilpatrick will also call Moore Park home and Nathan Franklin has crossed from SANFL power Glenelg.
Ryall was a dominant force for Kilmore in 2021-22, winning back-to-back league medals and also took home the 2022 Division 3 Coaches MVP and is a three-time Team of the Year midfielder.
The ball-winner has been training with VFL club Coburg during the off-season in a bid to reach peak fitness.
West Preston-Lakeside coach Luke Giles said Ryall’s versatility was an exciting weapon.
“We haven’t seen a heap of Chris because he’s been doing a VFL pre-season with Coburg,” Giles said.
“That’s obviously going to put him in a really good position to come in and be one of the best midfielders in the competition.
“I never want to pigeon hole anyone before I’ve seen enough of them.
“I’m really big on letting players decide where the play, you don’t want anyone to play where they don’t belong, but you often find with midfielders they’re fairly adaptable and I think Chris can play anywhere from half-back to half-forward, wing and through midfield.”
Meanwhile, talented Tasmanian Kilpatrick will wear red, white and blue after making the move to Melbourne.
The midfielder won North Hobart’s G.D Miller Medal in 2021 and has previously trained with North Melbourne’s VFL program.
The Roosters have helped settle him in Melbourne and Giles is excited by his potential.
“Callum’s a really good kid, he’s won a senior best-and-fairest and trained with the North Melbourne VFL program,” he said.
“He’s more than equipped to walk into our midfield and do a really good job.
“It’s a big life move for Callum, it’s more than footy for him, we’ve got to get him settled in and comfortable living in Victoria and then we can look forward to the footy things.
“One of our committee members has a link with him and from there I got in contact with him.
“He wanted to come and live in Melbourne, so it was a bigger move than footy for him, but given we’re a Division 1 club that is generally competitive every year had a lot of appeal to him.”
While Ryall and Kilpatrick will ramp up training in the coming months, Franklin has made an instant impact since arriving.
The winger played seven SANFL reserves games for Glenelg last year before returning to Victoria and playing one reserves game for Doncaster East.
Giles believes the speedster can fill a major need for the Roosters.
“He’ll be awesome in terms of his outside run,” Giles said.
“He’s got an enormous capacity to work, he’s winning all our time trials and running, and will fit in really well on the wing.
“One thing we’ve probably lacked over the years is real outside run and I think we’re going to get that through Nathan.
DIV 1: NEW RECRUITS, NEW METHOD FOR HURSTBRIDGE
LEADER: GET YOUR NORTHERN FOOTY NEWS HERE
DIV 1: “SKY IS THE LIMIT” FOR NEW EAGLES COACH
“Our assistant coach Anthony Pezzimenti, had a relationship with him and done some training with him before.
“We’re rapt to have him because it’s a fair bit of travel for him, he and his partner live down in Black Rock.
“We were pretty flattered when he committed to us because we thought that meant he was enjoying training with us and thought we had ability, so to say he wanted to jump on board we were really happy.”
Giles is confident West Preston-Lakeside can remain in the premiership hunt this season after falling at the semi-final hurdle last season.
Family draws Spicer to Stars
A family connection helped Fitzroy Stars land ex-AFL forward Phoenix Spicer and coach Neville Jetta believes it can have a longer-lasting impact.
The local footy teams to keep an eye on in 2025
From clubs with massive off-season recruiting drives to those who need to live up to the pressure, these are the local footy teams you need to keep an eye on in 2025.