VFL 2020: Sandringham locks in Western region star Mitch Palma
The Zebras believe they’ll have more depth than last year as they set about finalising a list of 37 players for the 2020 VFL season.
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Sandringham looked west for a recruit, and gained one of the region’s best.
The Zebras have locked in Hoppers Crossing star Mitch Palma, with the 23-year-old becoming the Zebras’ 16th signing as they start to present contracts to players and finalise their list.
Palma won the best and fairest last year for a team that finished fourth in the top division of the Western Region league.
He was also equal fifth in the league medal.
It was enough for him to be recommended to new Sandy coach Ben McGlynn.
Zebras recruiting manager Josh Vella said Palma had done everything right since joining pre-season training.
“He’s a bit of a ball magnet, a bull in the midfield,’’ Vella said.
“We’re looking forward to adding him to our squad. He’s really impressed the coaches with his size and his grunt. He’s always one of the first guys at training, to do the extras. He’s been great since he got here.’’
Vella said Palma’s recruitment was in line with the club’s desire to bring in some mature-age players.
“We went that way this year, trying to get some bigger bodies on to the list,’’ he said.
“He’s one of those. If I’m honest I didn’t know a lot about him, but he’s been super-impressive since he got here, he’s played some good football (in the Western Region league) and he’ll be able to assistant guys like Brede (Seccull) and Goy Lok in the midfield.’’
Palma had a stint with Western Jets in the TAC Cup and was on Footscray’s VFL list in 2016.
Vella said the Zebras had “pretty much’’ finalised their squad and the rest of the signings would be made in the next two weeks.
Sandringham will contract 30 players, as well as a “development list’’ of six 19-year-olds.
Four of the six will be Zebras and the other two Sandringham Dragons players eligible to play in the VFL.
Sandy will also fill at least one of their rookie positions.
“There has been plenty of turnover from last year, as there generally is in the VFL,’’ Vella said.
“We think we’ve brought in more maturity to the list, some bigger bodies, and hopefully they’ll be able to handle coming straight in to the VFL.
“There are some youngsters in there as well who should be able to bring something to the group. We’re pretty excited about it.
“You never really know until the matches start but we think we’ll be stronger. Like all clubs we’re thinking pretty optimistically about the year. I like to think we’ve added a bit more depth, which was something we wanted to do. We went pretty deep into our VFL list last year. If we’re going to go that deep again this year we need more depth.’’
Sandy’s signings include Southport’s Michael Manteit, a former Sandy Dragons who was a rookie at Collingwood; accomplished Frankston midfielder Goy Lok; former Dandenong Stingrays captain Luke Dalmua from Pines; 2018 Stingrays premiership player Dan Frampton, who was with Geelong last year; Dingley’s Chris Horton-Milne, one of the best on-ballers in the Southern league; Stingrays graduate Jack Toner, a midfielder; Old Haileybury forward Riley Thompson; former Dragon Riley Virtue; and Old Scotch’s Will Mitchell, the brother of Hawthorn’s Brownlow Medal champion Tom.
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Off the field, Wilson Storage has extended its “principal partnership’’ with Sandy for another two years.
Wilson Storage has also made its financial commitment in advance to help the club’s with projects including an electronic scoreboard and a food trailer.
“We are thrilled with the extension to our agreement with Wilson Storage,’’ Zebras CEO David Cannizzo said.
“This partnership is integral to the continued growth and strength of our club.
“The financial and business support directly links to our strategic plan and allows us to deliver a community hub and to provide an inclusive and welcoming environment for both our VFL and VFLW teams and stakeholders.”
The Zebras have also secured a major partnership with L+O Technologies for the next two years.
L+O Technologies has been a longstanding Zebras Team 25 Partner and strong supporter of Sandringham.