Paul Newman reunites with brother David at Tongala

A TOUGH preseason has given country football great Paul Newman a new lease on his playing career.

FOOTY: Newman brothers Shepparton

A TOUGH preseason has given country football great Paul Newman a new lease on his playing career.

The 31-year-old key forward made the momentous decision at the end of last season to leave Goulburn Valley league club Kyabram, where he had played for more than a decade and captained a premiership in 2013, to join his older brother, David, at the Tongala Blues.

The pair’s father and grandfather — both also named David Newman — played with the Blues, and David joined the Murray league club as playing coach in 2013.

David Newman the eldest coached Tongala to its first senior premiership in 1949, and David and Paul’s father was a club best-and-fairest winner.

Paul — a former Melbourne Football Club rookie, Goulburn Valley interleague captain and Vic Country representative — said it was inevitable he would follow in his family’s footsteps.

“It was just a matter of timing for me,” Paul said.

“I just felt that, after winning a flag at Ky a couple of years ago, that if I was going to do it, now would have to be the time.”

David, 33, said his younger brother had been a great addition to the Blues’ playing group.

“His knowledge of the game and his experience, he goes very well around kids and that kind of stuff, passing his knowledge on,” David said.

“It’s made a big difference having him around the club and I think the younger players will really benefit from it.”

Paul underwent groin surgery following the 2013 premiership season — his maiden senior flag — after ­enduring serious pain throughout the year.

He missed all of last year’s preseason and although he managed 73 goals for the season, Paul said he did not start hitting his straps until at least midyear.

Now injury-free, Paul has shed 10kg and is “back to where I was a few years ago, prior to all this sort of stuff”.

“It’s probably given me a new lease on footy too,” he said. “It was pretty miserable there the last couple of years.

“Now being able to move around and all that sort of thing — touch wood it stays that way — brings the fun back into (playing) too.”

And this successful preseason may well have extended Paul’s career.

“At the start of preseason I had the view that it would probably be my last year, but now that I’m feeling as good as what I am, we’ll just have to wait and see,” he said.

“If I feel like I do now I’ll keep going.”

David is in a similar position, feeling “the best I’ve been for three or four years”.

“I haven’t missed a beat this preseason,” he said.

After finishing 10th of 13 clubs in 2013 with seven wins, David admits Tongala took a step backwards last year — the Blues dropped to 11th of 12 clubs and got to sing the club song on just three occasions.

And the Blues have already suffered a setback this year, with returning local Ryan Butler snapping his Achilles tendon in the preseason.

But with recruits such as Paul, and former Bendigo Gold utility Ricky Thomson swooping in from the Mallee Eagles, David hopes to coach his first finals match this year.

“With who we’ve recruited and how preseason’s gone, there's no reason that can’t happen,” he said.

Tongala kicks off its Murray league campaign on Good Friday against Nathalia.