Beaten Bellarine grand finalist Geelong Amateur’s quest to end a 10-year premiership drought has received a significant boost, with former St Kilda and Carlton player Hugh Goddard returning to his junior club.
The Pegs have confirmed to K rock Football that the 198cm key position player has signed at Queens Park after more than a decade away from the club and after two years since he last played.
Goddard, 29, played underage football at Geelong Amateur while boarding at Melbourne Grammar and was drafted by the Saints from the Geelong Falcons with pick 21 in the 2014 National Draft – the same draft fellow Falcon Patrick McCartin was selected No.1
He played ten AFL matches in four injury-interrupted seasons at St Kilda before being delisted.
Goddard was thrown a lifeline in the 2018 Rookie Draft by the Blues, where he spent two seasons for an additional two matches.
During his time at Princes Park, he won the best-and-fairest with Carlton’s then VFL affiliate Northern Blues.
After his AFL career concluded, Goddard spent three years with Uni Blues in the VAFA, where he also served as a development coach.
Goddard is another impressive inclusion for co-coaches Riley Kershaw and Sam Lloyd.
Former junior James Hickey is back from St Joseph’s, Bryon Barnett and Jacob Sharp are also back, and Ammos are confident North Heidelberg recruit Jesse Tardio will cover the departure of Blake Sutterby back to Newtown & Chilwell.
Goddard isn’t the only former Uni Blue returning to the Bellarine, with Ocean Grove confirming that James Paterson will be back in a Grubbers’ jumper for the first time since 2022.
The former Geelong Falcon was one of the BFNL’s most dynamic forwards before heading up the highway.
Paterson, who will also take on an off-field role as Athletic Development Lead, kicked 38 goals from 13 games in the Covid-shortened 2021 season, followed by 41 goals from 18 games the following year.
In his first season at Uni Blues, he kicked 29 goals in 18 senior appearances.
However, the majority of 2024 and all of 2025 were spent in the reserves, kicking 39 goals in 16 games this year.
Meanwhile, speculation that Leopold big man Tylar Watts would join fellow Lions Harris Jennings and Connor Giddings in returning to Hampden League club Portland has proved on the mark.
Leopold has confirmed that Watts won’t have a second season at Memorial Park after crossing from GFNL rivals Geelong West ahead of the 2025 season.
X: @krockfootball
