Anglesea has landed a late pre-season recruiting blow with the signing of former VFL player Anton Woods.
The 32-year-old played 29 games with the Northern Bullants and Williamstown after winning the Morrish Medal in 2009 as TAC Cup best-and-fairest at the Northern Knights.
“I knew of him and played against him about 8-9 years ago when he was playing for Willy,” Anglesea coach Jordan Keras said.
“And my sister is best friends with his wife, so through that connection, I heard they wanted to move down the coast, and we went after him pretty hard when the (2023) season ended.
“He was not sure, with having a young family, whether they were going to able to get down the coast.
“I didn’t hear from him for a couple of months, and then he reached out at the end of February, and it all happened pretty quickly.”
Woods will join the Roos after captaining Eltham to the Northern League Division 2 premiership last year.
His resume at Etlham also includes a best-and-fairest in 2017, four selections in the Northern League Division 1 Team of the Year and Northern League Team of the Decade (2010-19), and representing the Northern League and Vic Metro.
Keras is confident that Woods can play a range of roles.
“Looking at his vision last year … he was playing half-forward, half-back, wing, midfield,” Keras said.
“I’m not too sure exactly where we’ll play him Round 1, but he’ll be quite versatile for us.
“I wouldn’t put a specific position on him yet.”
The arrival of Woods takes to seven the number of additions at Ellimatta Reserve.
Also among the confirmed arrivals is ex-Melbourne AFL player Tom Couch.
Keras says Couch, who played VFL at four clubs and GFNL with St Joseph’s and Bell Park, is available for the full season.
“The initial discussions were that we might have only been able to squeeze 8-10 games out of him,” Keras said.
“But we thought if we were going to gain his services, that it was going to be for the entire season, and we wanted that commitment, and Tom was happy for that.
“We’ll play him as much as we think is necessary to help our club have success.”
Anglesea rounds out its practice match schedule against VAFA club St Bernard’s at Ellimatta Reserve on Saturday before a week off ahead of a trip to Barwon Heads on Easter Saturday to open the BFNL season.
X: @krockfootball
