Tara Murray
Taylors Lakes’ foray back into Essendon District Football League division 1 has received a boost with two homegrown talents returning.
Coming off their first premiership since 2010, the Lions have announced the signings of Jake Hobbs and Danny Younan.
Hobbs started his football with the Lions and has played with Essendon’s Victorian Football League side, while having stints at Bundoora and Deniliquin.
Younan also played all his juniors with the Lions and was part of their senior premiership team in 2010 as a 17-year-old.
He has played 126 VFL games and has spent the past few years at Bundoora in the Northern Football League since.
Lions coach Steve Burns said they couldn’t be more excited to get the pair back.
“Local boys coming back for us is great,” he said. “We were hoping with going up that three or four local boys would come back.
“We’ve got two so far, the best two ones. We’re trying to get a couple more. It’s pretty exciting for us with their experience and ability.”
Burns said having the pair play together at Bundoora was another advantage for them.
The premiership and some stability at the club has seen a lot more people interested in joining them.
Burns said while they aren’t a destination club yet, they had turned the corner and that people wanted to talk to them about joining the club.
“We’re waiting on some answers from some others,” he said. “ We are pretty confident about another three players coming in, but I never say they are signed until I see the signature.”
Burns said their squad next year could be slightly different to what it was this year.
Raafat Rachrache, Luke McCormack, Trent Forbes and Brenden Lucas are all set to retire. The first three were part of the premiership side.
“It hurts the spin a little bit, but that’s footy,” Burns said. “The next guy in will replace them or players will step up into those roles.”
Ben Weightman, who kicked 24 goals in just four games before doing an ACL, has signed with Tullamarine.
Burns said the Lions are likely to have some players travelling to Europe next year as well which will impact the side.
The Lions have announced a number of re-signings along with their two new signings.
Captain Ben Norris, ruck Lockie Rayner, Jack Burns and midfield gun Chris Vulic among those to put pen to paper.
Vulic claimed the club’s best and fairest award from Lockie Rayner and Aaron Vendramini.
