Woodend-Hesket continues off-season recruiting blitz with gun ruckman
Woodend-Hesket’s recruiting blitz has secured a two-time league best-and-fairest and 2022 grand final BOG as it looks to break its Riddell District finals drought.
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Woodend-Hesket’s successful Riddell District off-season has gotten even bigger.
The Hawks have lured Tim Martin to Gilbert Gordon Oval for 2023, a two-time Bendigo league best-and-fairest winner and 2022 Northern league Division 2 grand final best-on-ground medallist.
The decorated ruckman won the Michelson Medal in 2013 and 2014 and helped Sandhurst claim the 2016 premiership before moving to Banyule in 2018, where he won a Division 2 title last season.
Martin was named ruck in the Division 2 Team of the Year in 2019 and 2021 and finished third in the league medal in 2021.
Hawks coach Josh Pound was rapt to secure Martin’s services.
“Marto is a good mate of mine and Tayte Pears and Courtney Johns, he’s a fireman with those two boys,” Pound said.
“He used to come and watch myself and Johnsy play at Aberfeldie, so we’ve become quite good friends over the last decade and I’d have those comical conversations over a beer or two.
“It’s a good opportunity to play with a couple of his best mates, and a change of scenery for him.
“He’s a competitive beast so while he might think he’s taking the foot of the gas a little bit I can assure you his competitive nature would suggest otherwise.
“We wanted to be strategic with the people we went after and you couldn’t find a better bloke then Marto.”
It continues a stunning summer for Woodend-Hesket, which has already had former captain Daniel and brother Ben Toman return.
Hawks junior and Gisborne premiership-winner Ethan Minns and former Calder Cannons midfielder Kyle Baker (Maribyrnong Park) have also signed on.
Significantly, the Toman brothers and Minns will all be one-pointers.
“We’ve been quite lucky in a sense, that timing has been on our side for a guys,” Pound said.
“We wanted to target quality Woodend juniors or people that have ties to the footy club, whether its juniors or friendships and relationships.
“We’ve always been in constant contact with Ben and Daniel and it’s a credit to the potential and competitiveness that we showed last year.
“They got to a few games and it’s a great reflection on our young and inexperienced group from last year that we had a good platform to build on because it’s huge to get those two back to the club.
“We get Minnsy back after winning a premiership with Gisborne, so he brings that experience and successful mindset, which Woodend hasn’t had in some time.
“We’re pretty happy with the recruiting side of things but that’s obviously only half the battle and now we’ve got to fast-track that chemistry and put it on the park.”
With the new additions, expectations are high at Gilbert Gordon Oval that Woodend-Hesket can break its finals drought.
The Hawks haven’t played finals since 2009 and came within
“We weren’t far off last year, it’s not a stat we can be completely proud of, but we had the lowest losing margin in the whole league,” Pound said.
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“It is something I reflect on and you can see we weren’t far off where we needed to be and I would have loved an opportunity to play a final.
“We felt like we lacked midfield depth and a permanent ruckman, so with the ability to ruck Tim and play Marcus Stapleton as a permanent defender and our midfield stocks, we’ve bolstered that depth.
“The challenge is going to be the chemistry side of things, it is a relatively new group working with a brand new ruckman, and that’s going to be a priority for our pre-season campaign.”
Woodend-Hesket will tackle Maryborough Castlemaine District club Trentham and VAFA outfit PEGS and have a training scrimmage against Kyneton ahead of a Round 1 blockbuster against Diggers Rest on April 15.
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