Buffaloes president Shaun Pearce confident he can find big name replacements for departing pair
DARWIN Buffaloes president Shaun Pearce has drawn some positives and negatives from the departures of midfielder Chris Williams and spearhead Daniel Stafford to Palmerston
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DARWIN Buffaloes president Shaun Pearce has drawn some positives and negatives from the departures of midfielder Chris Williams and spearhead Daniel Stafford to Palmerston.
Both players have signalled their intentions to wear a black and white jumper when the 20-21 NTFL season commences in October, in preference to Darwin’s double blue.
Pearce remained philosophical last night when asked if the loss of class players like Williams and Stafford would hurt his club’s playing depth.
“Yes and no, we’re certainly disappointed from a club perspective after (former coach) Matty Campbell and his team put a lot of work into both of them,’’ Pearce said.
“I guess a little bit of loyalty doesn’t exist any more and from a personal level, there’s probably a lack of respect to Matty and the coaching team who looked after them so well.
“We haven’t seen any clearances come through yet, but the word on the street is they are both gone which is the way it works up here.’’
Pearce said Williams had told the club his reasons were pretty much travel related from his home in Palmerston.
“With Chris’ commitments to Thunder and the Buffaloes in recent times it was putting a lot of taxing time on his family,’’ Pearce added.
“Daniel let a couple of people know of his intentions this week and with him living with Palmerston’s assistant coach there has probably been some talking going on there.’’
Pearce’s word for Buffalo fans was to “watch this space’’ as his club went in search of serious replacements for Williams and Stafford.
“We lose a couple and hopefully gain a couple, as well as commencing our coaching selections later this month,’’ he said with a smile.
“Footy has a habit of swinging like a roundabout and while we’re losing a couple of class players we’ve got a couple of pretty significant recruits we’re confident we’ll be naming through the pre-season.’’
Palmerston president Russell Davey was rapt with the recruitment of two key position players.
“It’s all about moving forward for our footy club and obviously Chris and Daniel will play key roles in those ambitions through the midfield and up forward,’’ he said.
“We made sure both players spoke to the Buffaloes before releasing their move on social media and now it’s all about positives for us.’’