Months of conversations have paid off for St Albans with the club signing former AFL player Atu Bosenavulagi for this year’s Essendon District Football League season.
The Saints announced on Wednesday that the former Collingwood and North Melbourne player had signed with the club.
Bosenavulagi played his junior football for the Boroondara Hawks in the Yarra Junior Football League and also played under-18s football for the Oakleigh Chargers in the TAC Cup, before getting selected by Collingwood. He played 11 AFL games.
Saints coach Zammy Muhtari said they were really excited by the signing.
“We’ve been speaking to him for the past four to five months,” he said.
“He was training with the Brisbane Broncos in rugby league as he was looking at changing codes.
“We built that relationship and kept in contact with him. We touched base again and things have come to fruition.”
Bosenavulagi will be with the Saints full time with no Victorian Football League commitments.
Muhtari said it was good to get someone who had played at the highest level into the club to help set the standard.
He said they were set to have a young list this season, with a few more announcements expected in the coming weeks.
Bryson Scales, Bailey Revell, Zach McCasker, Andre Srour and Victor Micallef are the other new player signings that have been announced by the Saints.
For the Saints, this year marks the start of a new journey. The club switched leagues in the off season and will start their EDFL journey in division 1.
Muhtari said they were looking forward to the challenge.
“It’s a new journey for us,” he said.
“A lot of guys seem to know other guys from other competitions and look at what they do and learn from them.
“We don’t know much of the EDFL teams in division 1, We go in with an open mind. Being competitive is the key for us.”
The Saints have a few practice matches lined up before the season, and were in Wodonga on the weekend with many of the players’ families coming along too.
The club also has its 75 year gala event in the lead up to the season.
Muhtari said it should be a big night for the club.
“It’ll be good to catch up with some of the older people at the club and relieve yesterday,” he said.
“We’ll also look at the journey and what we are starting now with our club.”
