Ocean Grove signing Joe McDonald on returning to Grubbers after one season with Newtown & Chillwell

Joe McDonald returned to Ocean Grove after just one season with Newtown & Chillwell. And a retiring champion played a part in his decision. He opens up the reasons for his move.

Joe McDonald has moved back to Ocean Grove.

There is a tinge of irony in Joe McDonald’s move back to Ocean Grove, given one of Newtown & Chillwell’s biggest stars influenced his decision making.

Playing alongside retiring Eagles champion Matt McMahon, a decorated one-club player, made the former Ocean Grove captain ponder where he wanted to play his footy.

That along with the departure of best mate Zach Walter to Barwon Heads and his thriving hobby ‘Bonnyvale Beats’ - organising DJ events at the Ocean Grove Hotel with Grubbers reserves captain Fletcher Long – saw him decide to depart Newtown & Chillwell after just one season.

Completing his electrician apprenticeship while bringing electronic music to the region, McDonald just didn’t have the time to give it his absolute all at Newtown & Chillwell.

But the 24-year-old did relish the opportunity to play in the top tier of Geelong footy, where he averaged 16 touches and 71 Premier Data ranking points across 15 games.

Joe McDonald at Ocean Grove back in 2023.

“I really enjoyed it, I enjoyed the challenge a lot. I really enjoyed Newtown as a club, the people were great, the committee were great, the boys that I played with were awesome and I’m certainly going to miss being around them,” McDonald said.

“It probably took a little while post GFL season (to make my decision). My best mate Zach Walter was at Newtown so he was one of the big reasons I went in the first place. So when he went back to Barwon Heads I thought, it is probably had a bad time to do it myself.

“I have started doing some things in event management and production and that’s becoming a lot busier than it was last year.

“Amongst that I just felt I didn’t have the time that I wanted to commit to Newtown and the community at Ocean Grove has always really looked after me and almost felt like there was a little bit of unfinished business there and things I wanted to achieve there.

“Seeing a great like Matt McMahon and what he has done as a one-club player and what he has achieved there was kind of inspiring and if I can try and achieve - probably not as good as he’s done – but what I can achieve at Ocean Grove, it’d be really fulfilling.”

Playing under Geelong great Steve Johnson at Newtown & Chillwell was certainly tempting, but a bigger driver was the potential to be playing in the GFNL with his hometown club.

Ocean Grove made its ambitions clear that it is eager to be promoted into the GFNL through the newly adopted restructure model - and the Grubbers aren’t far off, currently sitting equal third in the club championship standing for football and netball.

However, most of that contribution was from the netball side of the club with the Grubbers back-to-back A-Grade premiers.

There is plenty of water to go under The Barwon Heads Bridge before a GFNL promotion, but McDonald wants to be part of the football club’s rise.

Ocean Grove won back-to-back premierships. Picture: Mark Wilson

“If Ocean Grove went into the GFL I would 100 per cent want to be there to see that happen,” McDonald said.

“That’s one of the things that drew me back was trying to help them to be as good as they can be, which is only going to help them when the tiered system comes into play and things like that are happening.

“It’d be really cool to be a part of an Ocean Grove team playing in the highest level in Geelong.”

ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE

McDonald is excited by where Ocean Grove is heading.

The Grubbers had a horror start to last season, losing their first nine games, but snared four wins in the back-half of the season.

That included upset triumphs over Geelong Amateur and grand finalist Anglesea – albeit understrength in the final round.

Along with McDonald, Ocean Grove has also landed WAFL premiership player Taj Wyburd and McDonald’s Eagles teammate Rhys Devlin, a Grubbers junior, this week.

McDonald feels finals should be the aim for the Grubbers in 2025, but he also feels his former club Newtown & Chillwell will be a “force to be reckoned with” under Johnson.

McDonald feels anything is possible for Ocean Grove. Picture: Alan Barber

“I think they can definitely push, they have just got to take some lessons from last year and look at the way they finished the season and bring in some really positive recruits and stuff like that,” McDonald said.

“I think anything’s possible and it is so hard to tell until the season starts but you want to be positive and set high goals for yourself and I think if everybody gets on board and does that, there is no real limitations on what we can do.

“Signings like (Wyburd), young and quite talented, is really exciting and shows the direction we want to head in.”

Star Grubbers big man Kye Annand is also back into things after being hospitalised with a lacerated kidney in June.

“Kye is in some great shape, I have been catching up with him quite a bit and he is moving really well,” McDonald said.

“Bumped into him at a pilates class at the start of the week so he is definitely getting into moving around and things like that. He is looking pretty good so having Kye up and running will be a massive benefit for the team.”

BONNYVALE BEATS

McDonald isn’t hanging up the tools yet, but his Bonnyvale Beats hobby is certainly getting more serious than first thought.

Him and his Grubbers teammate Long have been promoting local DJs through their events at Ocean Grove Hotel – located on Bonnyvale Road.

The biggest name of those is Melohaus, who has more than one million streams on Spotify.

“Electronic dance music events that we are running at the Ocean Grove Hotel have grown really fast, faster than we expected it to, so putting a bit more time into that is something I have been doing over the last little bit and it’s taking up more time than I had thought,” McDonald said.

“To be honest I think I need to finish my apprenticeship to continue that and get that under my belt before I go too far into anything else but it is a fun hobby for me and I am enjoying doing it.”

One thing is for sure: McDonald will be offering spark on the field, on the jobsite and to Ocean Grove’s nightlife in 2025.

Originally published as Ocean Grove signing Joe McDonald on returning to Grubbers after one season with Newtown & Chillwell