Harper Sercombe
Williamstown has added to its busy off-season with the club pulling off one of the Victorian Football League’s marquee signings.
The Seagulls have secured the services of last season’s VFL leading goal kicker Brodie McLaughlin for 2024.
The 26-year-old booted 55 goals in 20 matches for the premiership winning Suns this year, while also earning his maiden selection in the VFL team of the year.
Seagulls’ director of coaching Jeff Andrews said the signing was an important one for the club.
“He’s obviously one of the best players in the comp, leading goal kicker and he’s probably very stiff to not be on an AFL list,” he said.
“His services were really hotly contested but we are wrapped that he chose Williamstown.
“We’ve lost Joel Ottavi who was a good contested marker and he kicked close to 30 goals for the year so to be able to replace the goals with a few extra was really important.
“They’re very different types of players but that firepower to be able to capitalise on the good work we do up the field is something that we’ve been looking for so that should help improve us.”
McLaughlin adds to the long list of strong talent the Seagulls have acquired to this point of the offseason, joining Riley Collier-Dawkins, Riley Stoddart, Luke Parks and Joshua Browne at the club.
“It’s only December, so it’s very early days, they’ve still got to play good footy, they’ve got to gel as a team so there’s plenty of water to go under the bridge,” Andrews said.
“But bringing in high quality, driven young men to play the best footy they can and get onto an AFL list.
“It’s been a recipe that’s worked well for us with Marty [Hore] and Oscar [McDonald] getting picked up over the last few weeks.”
To add to the crazy off-season at the club, former St Kilda player and American football punter for the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL Aaron Sippos joined the club as an assistant coach before departing just days after to join Hawthorn as a development coach under Sam Mitchell.
“That’s the common theme in VFL footy, it’s a real pathway for staff as well as players and we’ve got to embrace that being a part of our role,” Andrews said.
“We were wrapped that Aaron chose to come on board with us but when he’s offered a full time job in footy, which is what he wanted to do, he could never knock that back.
“We were disappointed to be losing his services. We think he’d be a good coach, he’s got plenty to offer the players with the experiences he had at NFL level, but it’s just par for the course.
“It’s what we’re used to, you don’t hang on to good people for too long at VFL level.”
With pre-season up and running the Seagulls are hoping to go further than the semi-final departure they had this season, and early signs are pointing that way Andrews said..
“We’ve been back two weeks, the boys have come back in really good nick, that was something that we emphasised at the end of the season, that any improvement we make in 2024 is going to be from a really concerted effort from everybody,” Andrews said.
“We’re certainly advanced a long way from where we were this time last year with the retention of players and the ability to pick up where we left off.
“The IQ of the new guys that we brought in has meant we’ve been able to take steps forward, but it doesn’t mean anything at this time of year, but we’re happy with how it’s tracking.”
