St Kevin’s loses former Magpie Adam Oxley to country club

There has again been an influx of ex-AFL players to the amateurs but one of the more prominent signings has had a change of heart and is joining the West Gippsland league.

Adam Oxley on the burst for Collingwood.

Without ever really gaining him, VAFA powerhouse St Kevin’s has lost one of its heralded recruits for 2021.

Former Collingwood wingman Adam Oxley li nked with Skob last November, joining a bunch of former AFL players at the Premier section club.

The ex-Magpie now intends to become a Seagull: he’s put in a clearance to West Gippsland club Tooradin-Dalmore

St Kevin’s coach Guy Martyn said Oxley had been open with the club about his change of plans.

“He was really good about it and communicated it all pretty well,’’ he said.

“No hard feelings at all from my/our end.’’

Adam Oxley puts in a tackle for the Pies.

Oxley found his way to Tooradin-Dalmore through his friend and former teammate Piva Wright, who joined the Seagulls last year.

“Piva said, ‘It’s a good club to be around, I’m really enjoying it, I’m settled, this is my club now, why don’t you come down and have a look yourself?’,’’ Tooradin-Dalmore vice-president Derek Genoni said.

“He (Oxley) met with our recruiting team and he was obviously was quite happy with what he experienced, the whole process.’’

Oxley joined his new Seagulls teammates on a pre-season camp in Newhaven last week.

“He fitted in really well with the boys,’’ Genoni said.

He said Oxley, aside from his playing role, would help develop the club’s junior players.

“Having a bloke like that … it just gives the juniors someone to look up to – a bit similar to what we had with Beau Miller here,’’ Genoni said.

“They adored him. It just gives them someone to aspire to.

“All the experience he’s had with training set ups at the elite level … hopefully we and develop our own first ever AFL footballer through the junior club.’’

Oxley, 28, can be expected to be one of the leading players in the West Gippsland competition.

The speedy right-footer played 34 AFL games, spread over six years, after Collingwood recruited him as a rookie and gave him an AFL debut in 2013.

He stayed with the Maggies as a VFL player after being delisted at the end of 2018.

Oxley went back to Queensland play with Redland last year but the NEAFL season never got off the ground.