WRFL: Patrick Veszpremi signs on at Hoppers Crossing for 2020
After a first-week finals exit in WRFL Division 1, Steve Kretiuk’s Hoppers Crossing has responded by landing a star midfielder and is planning a busy off-season.
Local Footy
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local Footy. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Hoppers Crossing’s midfield has received a much-needed injection of class with former AFL player Patrick Veszpremi putting pen to paper with the WRFL Division 1 club.
Veszpremi was on Port Melbourne’s VFL list this year and made five appearances in an injury-interrupted campaign, while he also featured in two games for EDFL club Pascoe Vale.
The 30-year-old spent six years in the AFL system, playing 23 games across six seasons for Sydney and the Western Bulldogs.
He has since had stints with the Panthers and Essendon Doutta Stars before committing to the Borough in 2019.
The Warriors waved goodbye to Barry Priest medallist Chris Endres and Jordan Mead early in the season, robbing them of two of their gun midfielders, before they were eliminated in the first week of finals.
“At the end of the day, that’s probably cost us 70 possessions and a couple of goals a game,” Hoppers Crossing coach Steve Kretiuk said.
“It probably cost us a couple of spots on the ladder.
“It’s one of those unfortunate things. Obviously Jordy had too many concussions … and Chris got into the fire brigade.
“We probably needed someone with some quality ball use, leadership and ball-winning ability through the midfield. He (Veszpremi) fits the bill quite well.
“We’ve got a hell of a lot of young guys, so we need some older heads in our side. He is a leader and I think he’s certainly going to help us.”
Veszpremi will be full-time with the Warriors after departing Port and Kretiuk was confident the club could help him overcome his injury niggles.
“We’ve just got to make sure we manage him and do what’s best for him,” he said.
“We’ve been pretty good with that. Brenton Payne was in the same situation and had a few injuries the year before (2017) with his back. He played every game for us this year.”
After finishing the home-and-away rounds in fourth spot, Hoppers Crossing was hammered by rival Werribee Districts in the elimination final, going down by 68 points.
Kretiuk said the Warriors would be aggressive over the off-season after qualifying for the grand final in 2018.
Deer Park has claimed the past seven Division 1 flags and toppled Altona by three points in this year’s decider.
“We got found wanting in the final,” he said.
“Obviously Werribee got those classy VFL players back and when you have guys who have played VFL footy against guys playing local footy, you can get found out a bit.
“We just needed to find that class we lost earlier in the year.
“I don’t think we’re far off, but we’re a bit behind some of the other teams with some class.
“We want to be the first ones to knock Deer Park off their mantle. They’re a great team and they showed in the final that when the chips are down, they’ve still got something to give.
“They’ll be a force to be reckoned with again next year, so we want to make sure we’re around the mark.”
WHAT A LEADER LOCAL FOOTY SUBSCRIPTION GIVES YOU ACCESS TO
— Match reports, features, player and coach movements and analysis of all the leagues across Melbourne.
— Unprecedented AFL coverage.
— All the latest football news from across the country including Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph and Courier-Mail.
— Latest news and videos from the world’s leading leagues.
— Exclusive digital stories and videos before they go to print.