Tigers add some bite as former Hawk Kieran Lovell returns

The Tigers’ off-season resurgence has peaked with the TSL’s southernmost club landing arguably the league’s best player in a former Hawthorn midfielder.

Hawk Kieran Lovell, right, contests the ball with Matthew Buntine, of the Giants, in the 2016 AFL season. Picture: Brett Hemmings/AFL Media/Getty

THE  Tigers’ off-season resurgence has peaked with the TSL’s southernmost club landing arguably the league’s best player in former Hawthorn midfielder Kieran Lovell.

The mantra of “once a Tiger always a Tiger” has seen Lovell return to the Twin Ovals after three years as a Hawk, playing two senior games and being a member of this year’s VFL premiership with feeder club Box Hill.

At just 21 and with three years of AFL and VFL exper­ience behind him, the prolific ball-winner should just be coming into his prime.

Tigers coach Trent Baumeler said Lovell would be right up there with the cream of the TSL such as North Launceston pair Brad Cox-Goodyer and Josh Ponting.

“There are pretty good players in the TSL. I reckon Brad Cox-Goodyer, Josh Ponting would have something to say about that and we are not going to put any pressure on Kieran,” Baumeler said.

Kieran Lovell has signed with the TSL Tigers. Picture: Adam Trafford/AFL Media

“[The message is] come in, play to your strengths, do what you do and we’ll put them in positions to play to his strengths and we’ll see how he goes, but yeah, he’ll be one of the best players in the comp definitely.”

Lovell fielded offers from all around Australia from a variety of state leagues and other competitions, but decided his immediate future lay with the TSL Tigers from where he was recruited with pick 22 in the 2015 national draft.

The pull of family and friends saw him decide on the Tigers and despite his time at Hawthorn not ending how he had hoped, he had no regrets.

“I learned a lot in my time there and definitely got a lot out of it as a footballer and as a person,” Lovell said. “I guess I probably didn’t perform on the field probably quite the way I would have liked, but playing in a VFL premiership was great and I’ve got a lot of lifelong friends from doing that.”

He said the move was also to shift his focus from 100 per cent football.

“I definitely haven’t given up [on returning to the AFL], but I guess I have taken a little bit of a step back from having footy as the be all and end all of my life,” he said.

“I’ve got to work out a few other things and have a good well balanced rounded life now and maybe in the future you see blokes getting picked up aged 25, 26, 27 these days so it is definitely still something I’ll be striving for in the future but for now I’m just focused on trying to play some good footy.”

He joins the likes of Huonville forward Michael Paul, Elijah Reardon from Cygnet and former NEAFL, VFL and Burnie player Jarryd Drew as recruits at the Tigers.

THE TSL Tigers have pulled off a recruiting coup by luring former Hawthorn midfielder Kieran Lovell back to the Twin Ovals.

Lovell, 21, was the first Tiger drafted directly from the club when he was selected with pick 22 in the 2015 AFL national draft.

He played two games for the Hawks but a shoulder injury and the recruitment of Tom Mitchell and Jaeger O’Meara saw the prolific ball-winner struggle to crack the Hawthorn midfield.

He played 21 games for the Box Hill Hawks, including the premiership win over Casey.

Lovell will be the jewel in the Tigers midfield, in what has been an impressive off season for the TSL’s most southern club, which has also signed Huonville key forward Michael Paul.

Lovell was a star at underage level, being named in the 2015 under-18 All-Australian team and was awarded Tasmania’s MVP for the under-18 national championships after 42, 35 and 29-possession games.

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