By Tara Murray
Spotswood’s off season has received a massive boost with former AFL midfielder Lachie Hunter signing with the club for the Western Football League division 1 season.
The Woodmen announced over the Christmas period that Hunter had signed on for this year.
The Western Bulldogs premiership player ended his AFL career at the end of 2024 after 199 games with the Bulldogs and Melbourne.
New Woodsmen coach Steve O’Bryan said some close friendships between some of the playing group and Hunter led to him joining the club.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “We’re happy to have him.
“He’s quite good friends with a lot of the local boys and he lived with a few for a while. He had that good relationship already.
“That’s how it came about. I had a chat with him and we got along and things fell into place.”
O’Bryan said having those local ties and existing relationships were really important when bringing in players to the side.
Hunter played his junior football at Williamstown juniors in the WFL, before playing with the Western Jets and then being drafted.
O’Bryan said the reaction from the playing group and supporters had been really exciting since the announcement.
“A lot of players know him,” he said. “The supporters and the people in the community know him.
“We’re stoked to have him, not just for his football ability but his knowledge and learnings and understanding of the game.
“He will give the list a confidence boost.”
For O’Bryan, it’s a welcome signing as he embarks on his first season as coach of the Woodsmen.
O’Bryan, who has coached at Pakenham and Kilcunda Bass, had been playing with the Woodsmen in recent years.
After hanging up the boots and keen to get back into coaching, O’Bryan said it was easy to make the decision to coach the club he was playing at.
O’Bryan said that he would use Hunter’s knowledge to his advantage.
“From my perspective, I’ll work with Lachie a lot,” he said. “I’ll look to feel off him as well.
“I’ll look to get his help on how he sees the game should be played.”
Hunter is the first new signing announced by the Woodsmen, having announced a number of re-signings.
O’Bryan said they had been happy with how the pre-season had gone so far. The Woodsmen finished last season in sixth spot.
“We’ve been training pretty hard so far,” he said. “Across seniors, reserves and under-19s, we’ve had 75 different people come through.
“I’m really happy and they seem to be enjoying it so far and working hard.”
O’Bryan said they were still talking to some other possible recruits. He said they were hoping the signing of Hunter would help with that.
He said there was also a number of younger players who had impressed in the pre-season so far who were pushing their cases.
The Woodsmen will kick off their season on April 5 against Newport, which will play division 1 for the first time.
