Ex-Eastern league captain links with Southern power Dingley

There has been an influx of top-line players to the SFNL, with a former VFL player and Eastern league captain the latest to roll pen over paper.

Upper Ferntree Gully leader Andrew Godfrey has joined Dingley.

Andrew Godfrey lives in Dingley.

Next year he will play football for it too.

The former Casey VFL player has joined the Dingoes from the Eastern league, where he was a decorated player at Upper Ferntree Gully.

The defender figured in UPG’s 2010 and 2016 premierships (in 2010 he played every game in the seniors despite being eligible for the Under 18s).

He was also in the Division 3 team of the year in 2016, when the team sailed through undefeated.

Godfrey was co-captain of Upper Gully in 2018 and ’19.

At VFL level he played seven senior games and 20 in the reserves for Casey from 2013 to 2015, on occasion battling injuries.

“He’s been around our club for a few years now,’’ Dingley director of football Brad Collins said of Godfrey.

Staying: Travis La Rocca.

“He lives at Dingley and he knows a lot of people involved in our club.

“To be honest he’s had a few free beers over the years and we’ve always had that in the back of our mind, him playing with us, but he actually reached out to us and said he was thinking about making the move.

“It’s been a pretty tough call for him because his dad is president of Upper Ferntree Gully and he’s a respected club leader. But he’s ready to make a fresh start and play a lot closer to home.’’

Collins said Godfrey was as good character who would quickly fit in at Dingley.

The Dingoes have all but closed their recruiting books, content with a squad that has remained intact since the 2019 premiership.

But they are in contention to sign a key forward who has played in Eastern and the Mornington Peninsula Nepean leagues.

Collins confirmed Matt Morwood and Travis La Rocca had put their travel plans on hold and would play on in 2021.

Both had intended to go overseas this year but COVID-19 intervened.

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