Ex-AFL star, international cyclist helping out at Riddell District club Lancefield

A former AFL star and an international cyclist, two of Australia’s elite athletes, have teamed up to help local footy struggler Lancefield.

Daniel Cross and Mitch Docker have helping out Lancefield.

Two of Australia’s most elite athletes have joined forces to try and boost one of local footy’s strugglers.

Riddell District club Lancefield has tapped into the expertise of ex-AFL star Daniel Cross and Mitch Docker, a Giro D’Italia stage-winning cyclist, to shape the club’s pre-season preparations.

Cross played 249 AFL games, winning a Bulldogs best-and-fairest in 2008, and was known for his elite endurance.

Docker spent 15 years on the professional international circuit, regularly competing in the Giro D’Italia and Vuelta Espana grand tours.

Lancefield failed to win a game this season, winning four in 2023 and two in 2022.

Daniel Cross during his time at Western Bulldogs.

Mitch Docker with his children Esther and Marlow. Picture: Zoe Phillips

The Tigers have turned to favourite son Ryan O’Meara to lead them in 2025 and he said having Cross and Docker’s fitness-building prowess would be a major boost.

“Crossy is a friend through (assistant coach) Andrew McTrusty, Truck has worked at the Western Bulldogs and Melbourne before and has an existing relationship with him,” O’Meara said.

“He’s helping us out with pre-season programming, we’re trying to ramp it up a little bit and become more professional.

“Leaning on someone who has excelled at the highest level, he’s been great, he going to probably come up a couple of times but at the moment he’s just checking out program.

“We’re lucky enough to also have Mitch Docker, who’s represented Australia in cycling, helping out too.

“He moved to Lancefield a couple of year ago and loves the community, he set up a run club and a couple of the boys were involved in that, which built a relationship and one thing led to another.”

O’Meara has served as an assistant coach for the past two seasons and takes the reins from Tim Bannan, who stepped down mid-season this year.

It will be his second stint in charge having previously been a player-coach in the 1990s.

Having come through the Western Jets and represented Coburg in the VFA, O’Meara moved to Lancefield in 1996, playing in a premiership that season.

Took over as coach in 1997-98, leading the club to finals in both years, and became a two-time premiership winner in 2004, kicking five goals in the decider.

O’Meara will coach his three nephews in football, while his two daughters have signed on for netball.

“It’s going to be a challenge with where we’ve been in the last four or five years, but it’s exciting,” he said.

“We’ve got to roll up the sleeves and do some hard work but that’s what we’re there to do.

“I was playing coach in the 90s, I’m a Lancefield boy.”

Lancefield has made a strong start to the off-season, attracting a number of recruits.

Noah Smallacombe (Essendon Doutta Stars), Tom Jackson (Tullamarine), Will O’Connell (St Bernard’s) and Max Taylor (Strathmore) will all add class and strength to the Tigers’ line-up.

“We’ve tried to be proactive, we haven’t gone crazy, but we’ve been lucky enough through our players a couple have come on board,” O’Meara said.

“It hasn’t been a crazy recruiting campaign, we’ve done it with an end-goal in mind.

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“We’ve got a core of 22 to 23-year-olds and we’re hoping to build, you’ve love to get instant results and if there are great, but we’re looking to build for the next two or three years.

“It’s such a competitive (recruiting) market out there, so you have to draw on why we play and fell in love with footy and playing with friends.

“Your players are your strongest resource when it comes to recruiting and we like to think we’ve landed some good footballers but some quality people as well.”

Lancefield’s pre-season training kicks off on Monday.