WRFL: West Footscray signs ex-Carlton player Nick Graham and brother Brian
West Footscray has been in a rebuilding phase the past four seasons, but the club’s hopes of climbing the WRFL Division 2 ladder have received an enormous boost.
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Gun midfielders Nick and Brian Graham have put pen to paper with West Footscray in a significant coup for the WRFL Division 2 club.
The brothers have crossed from Ballarat league outfit Darley, with Nick to share the top job with Shane Lucas, while Brian will be an assistant coach.
Nick spent six years on Carlton’s list and made 48 appearances at AFL level from 2013-18, while Brian is a best-and-fairest winner at Darley, interleague representative and has been named in the BFL Team of the Year the past there years.
The Roosters have been rebuilding the past four seasons after qualifying for the 2015 grand final and claimed five wins in 2019.
“They’re both not coming just to play footy,” Lucas said.
“They’re coming with an interest in making sure we succeed.
“Nothing against anyone else, it’s sort of rare you get players doing that these days.
“They’re really good mates with about four of our guys. I think it all started on ‘silly Sunday’. One of the boys messaged Brian and said ‘how about you come and have a kick with us.’
“We thought we might have been a chance to get him and then about two weeks later, Nick popped up. He has just got a promotion in his job.”
Lucas said the pair’s reduced travel commitments proved a key factor, with Nick a “three-minute walk” away from Shorten Reserve, while Brian lives in Braybrook.
The two star recruits could lift West Footscray into finals contention after it was on the brink of recess three years ago.
The club has won 13 games since its 2015 grand final loss, but 10 of those have come in the past two campaigns.
“Probably the biggest thing is, for four years we’ve stabilised the place,” Lucas said.
“We’ve obviously gone through the hard times, but the club made mistakes and instead of running away from them and dropping down (a division), we just stuck it out and copped our medicine for four years.
“At some stage we have to pull the trigger and turn off-field success into on-field success.”
Lucas said spearhead Darcy McCallum, who has bagged 110 goals in the past two seasons, was set to benefit enormously from some silver service.
While the Roosters are set to improve, Lucas said they were not looking any further beyond setting a target of six victories in 2020.
They have retained the key members of their senior squad in another boost.
“Everyone is buzzing,” Lucas said.
“It’s up to the players now. We’ve made the environment a good one and we’ve had fun along the way.
“We’ve copped beltings, but now it’s time to knuckle down. Next year there won’t be any passengers.”
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