Xavier Dimasi’s latest accolade is Whittlesea club captaincy for 2020
It’s been a whirlwind two years since Xavier Dimasi signed on at Whittlesea and the star defender has earned himself another accolade ahead of the NFL Division 1 season.
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Xavier Dimasi says joining Whittlesea has been the best move he’s made after being elevated to the captaincy for this season.
Dimasi takes over the leadership from Riley Dyson, who will focus on returning to full fitness after an ankle injury dogged his 2019 campaign.
It’s been a whirlwind couple of years for the former Box Hill VFL midfielder after arriving at Whittlesea Showgrounds in 2018.
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Relegation in his first season was followed by a premiership and return to NFL Division 1 in his second as well as grand final best-on-ground honours and a Division 2 league best-and-fairest.
“I was pretty rapt when Stinger (coach Blair Harvey) told me,” Dimasi said of becoming skipper.
“If you had have told me I’d be in this position when I first arrived at Whittlesea, I would have laughed at you.
“Riley did a great job captaining us to a flag and his work off-field last season when he wasn’t playing was immense.
“We’ve got good people around the club, Stinger’s a great coach and I’m rapt to work with him.”
Dimasi has previous leadership experience as development captain at Box Hill and First XVIII skipper at Assumption College.
Joint club best-and-fairest Matt Atta has been named vice-captain, while fellow winner Paul Higgins, Jaron Murphy and Nathan Andrews round out the leadership group.
Whittlesea has retained its premiership-winning list ahead of a return to top flight and bolstered its squad by securing St Kilda midfielder Bailey Rice and VFL key forward Sam Peet.
Dimasi was confident the club was capable of fighting for more than survival.
“Bailey’s jokes could do with a bit of work but his footy is all right,” he said.
“He’ll be in the middle with me, so we’ll be working pretty closely which is good, I’m really looking forward to playing with him.
“We’re shaping up really well but we can’t get ahead of ourselves.
“If we start worrying about what other clubs are doing, and who’s beating who, then it will probably derail us.”
Whittlesea will begin its season by unfurling its Division 2 flag at home against Greensborough on April 4.
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