Norwood premiership player Connor O’Sullivan among recruits at Mitcham

Mitcham has added much-needed experience to its list as the Tigers look to end a four-year absence from Eastern Football League finals.

Zak Carroll has joined Mitcham. Picture: Chris Eastman/AAP

Mitcham has added much-needed experience to its list as the Tigers look to end a four-year absence from Eastern Football League finals.

Norwood premiership ruckman Connor O’Sullivan and experienced midfielder Zak Carroll are among the key additions at Walker Park.

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Mitcham is also hoping fringe Norsemen onballer Jarrod West will add some grunt to the Tigers’ engine room.

O’Sullivan played in Norwood’s 2014 premiership and also spent two years on Box Hill’s list, while Carroll brings Division 1 experience from the Norsemen and Doncaster.

Mitcham coach Neil Winterton. Picture: James Ross/AAP

After being relegated to Division 2 as part of the EFL restructure, Mitcham coach Neil Winterton said the Tigers identified the importance of adding some mature bodies to their list.

“Connor was mates with one of the guys that plays with us and he probably started feeling a little bit stale at Norwood and was just looking for a change,” Winterton said.

“We were obviously pretty lucky to be able to get a player of his quality.

“I pursued Zak last year and he said he wanted to have another go at Norwood but he probably felt he wasn’t getting the opportunities he deserved. I had another go at him this year and got him on board.

“Zak I think is 28 and is a strong body and obviously played a lot of senior footy and Connor has played at a high level and he’s just a natural leader.

“We certainly targeted experienced, bigger bodies and guys to show a bit of leadership because that was an area we were lacking this year.”

Winterton said the club had also retained its squad for 2019 as it pushes for its first finals berth since the 2015 Division 3 premiership.

“There’s still a couple of guys umming and ahhing whether they’re going to play but at this stage we haven’t lost anyone and we’ve obviously been able to add those three guys,” he said.

“The division we’re in this year is probably going to be the tightest division out of all of them I’d imagine.

“There’s just not going to be any easy games at any stage so we felt we really needed to add to our list, even though we’re confident in the list we had.

“With another year under their belt, we feel we’re going to be a really good team but to be able to add a bit of experience, we’ve ticked the boxes we needed to.”

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