GDFL 2023: Anakie lands former AFL star Luke Dahlhaus in bombshell signing
Anakie has pulled off a signing bombshell, landing a former Bulldog and Cat. And the club is bullish it can turn their fortunes around. Here’s how.
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GDFL cellar dweller Anakie has secured the biggest signing of the off-season so far, landing former AFL star Luke Dahlhaus.
In a bombshell signing, the former Dog and Cats star has been lured to the Roos by his best mate, new Anakie coach Jayke Mawson.
Dahlhaus, who played 154 games for the Bulldogs — including the 2016 premiership — before heading back home to Geeling where he played a further 71 for the Cats, played at Point Cook in the WRFL this seaso nafter retiring from the AFL in 2022.
Under Western Bulldogs premiership teammate Clay Smith, Dahlhaus kicked nine goals in 12 games in an injury hampered season, named in the best on seven occasions as Point Cook went down to Werribee Districts in the grand final.
There had been discussions with Dahlhaus about co-coaching with Mawson but while there is no official title, Anakie president Heath Menhennet expects him to play a role in assisting Mawson.
The 31-year-old is also tipped to be involved in the junior club.
“There’s been a lot of meeting in the background. We announced our new coach a month or so back with Jayke Mawson coming on board and Jayke’s best mate happens to be Luke Dahlhaus,” Anakie president Heath Menhennet said.
“We had the opportunity to actually speak to someone of his calibre and he was actually blown away with our rooms because we have just had our new rooms finished off this year.
“But what this will be able to do is give it a really good charge to go into our 99th year and juniors will certainly get some involvement with Luke as well, Luke isn’t just coming in to play senior footy he is coming in to be involved in the club which is fantastic.”
Menhennet said there was a buzz around the club after news about the signing “blew up” on Facebook.
He believes the massive recruit along with the newly built clubrooms can lift the club from the doldrums after just one win from their past 48 matches, with a wave of interest surrounding the struggling side.
Menhennett conceded luring prospective recruits had been challenging due to their lack of on-field success and small population of the town – recorded at just 734 people in the 2021 census.
But he is predicting a big crowd at Anakie’s first home game and much improved on-field performance in 2024.
“I’m predicting we will triple the town’s population at our first home game. I can tell you now just from the signing tonight, he blew up Facebook,” Menhennet said.
“It shows that there are some positives that will come out of it and it’s one thing we are looking forward to progress with more W’s than L’s.
“We always struggle out here in a town of limited population of 700 so we have to fly them in and fly them out.
“Certainly in the 12 years I’ve been doing this job, selling the previous season is always difficult when you don’t get finals and have the success like some of the other clubs in our league.
“So we have to tapdance a little bit harder to get attention. The coach Jayke, certainly his involvement was the instigator in really getting this across the line and it shows the support he has got in the community with these players.”
MORE SIGNINGS
Dahlhaus won’t be the only new arrival at the Roos.
Menhennet and Mawson have been hard at work behind the scenes meeting with potential signings and the club will be revealing more recruits over the next fortnight.
And there could be even more with Dahlhaus on board, with Menhennet’s phone “running hot”.
“Like it always is there’s always a lot of conversations and there probably has been since Jayke came on board a month ago – I don’t think there’s a week we haven’t met with half a dozen blokes,” Menhennet said.
“We have some signings to announce over the next couple of weeks which Luke was obviously a centerpiece. It has made the phone run hot now and there’s a lot of interest and we have built something and now they are coming.
MAWSON INFLUENCE
Anakie’s new coach isn’t just responsible for landing Dahlhaus.
He has also helped one of best young talents in the GDFL in Roos sensation Ajang Kuol mun to pursue higher honours with Geelong’s VFL side.
The athletic South Sudanese ruckman, who has signed on with Anakie for 2024, is set to train on with Geelong’s VFL side over the pre-season after turning heads in his first season of footy, averaging 15.4 disposals, 22.1 hitouts and 98.9 Premier Data ranking points.
This included a monster 29 disposals, 21 contested possessions, 10 clearances and 162 ranking points against grand finalist Thomson.
“To pick up a football and have the stats that he did was great. Jayke was able to talk to Geelong VFL and created a pathway to try out with them over the summer and pre-season,” Menhennet said.
“He has also signed with us next year so we get that benefit that if he doesn’t get selected he will be running around in the blue.
“To be able to create that pathway – and this is where Jayke Mawson comes in with his background at South Barwon – his GFL background is that we can create that pathway here at a local level.”
Originally published as GDFL 2023: Anakie lands former AFL star Luke Dahlhaus in bombshell signing
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