Tara Murray
Deer Park has made a number of signings, including a former AFL player, as it aims to break into Essendon District Football League premier division finals.
Having consolidated their spot in the top flight in their first year, the Lions have set their sights high heading into year two.
With the majority of this year’s squad sticking around, the Lions have been one of the busier sides on the recruiting front early on.
Coach Jamie Madigan said they were really happy with what they had been able to do in terms of bringing in players.
“We’ve been pretty active in the off-season,” he said. “We’ve maintained pretty much everyone except for Scott Greenhough.
“We’ve really added to our depth. We felt like last season, we lacked a little bit of depth, with these guys coming in and maintaining our list and only losing Greenhough, I think we are going to be in a really good position.”
The signing of Lin Jong is the biggest one for the Lions.
The former Western Bulldogs player played 65 AFL games between 2012 and 2021.
Madigan said he would add some grunt into the midfield.
“Lin Jong will be fantastic for us,” he said. “He played at Mulgrave last year and won their best and fairest.
“He’s mates with a few of the players down at Deer Park, he’ll give us an inside mid with the clearance and stoppage work.”
Josh Chatfield, who played three games for the Lions this year, has committed full time for next year in another big boost.
Madigan said having him full time would be unbelievable with his numbers in the three games he played was elite.
Zen Christofi, who won East Keilor’s best and fairest this year, is expected to give the Lions some more run and youth along with Massimo Raso and Lachlan Fitzgerald, who both return to the club where they played a lot of juniors.
Dion Hill, another crossing from East Keilor, will be a bit of a swingman, Hayden Gill is a tall forward that is on Carlton’s list while Mitchell Antonello has been signed to take on the ruck role.
Nick Ebinger, who is on Williamstown’s Victorian Football League list, has signed with the club but they’re not expecting to see much of him.
Madigan said they were talking with some former players about coming back to the club, including some premiership players.
Clearances have been lodged for Lachlan Smart and Tim Quick already.
With the additions, Madigan said they have set their targets high for next season.
“Definitely making finals,” he said. “We think with our additions that it is what we can do. Without getting ahead of ourselves, we are thinking the top three is an opportunity.
“We know we need to make improvements and we think we learned a lot from last year just the style of footy they play in the EDFL.
“Besides three games… every other game we were in the game right until the last quarter.
“We didn’t get blown out of the water, we were lacking that depth to get over the line.”
