Former Geelong Falcon Jai McGough has become the latest addition to a litany of impressive off-season acquisitions at Queenscliff.
The talented 19-year-old, who was limited to a handful of reserves games at GFNL club St Mary’s this year, put pen to paper with the Coutas on the weekend.
Coach Heath Jamieson says the arrival of McGough, who was part of the Vic Country squad in his top-age Talent League season, can be attributed to recruiter Aaron Jones’s work.
“He’s done a heck of a job over the pre-season in keeping his ear to the ground,” Jamieson said.
“Jai’s got a lot of friends that already play at Queenscliff.
“Something we’ve talked about is recruiting in clumps.
“And there’s a group of guys that went to St Joseph’s (College) that played a little bit of rep footy together, and they want to play senior footy together.”
McGough joins Lachie McKane (Lara) and Jonas Seecamp (Newtown & Chilwell) as GFNL products calling the Couta Bowl home in 2023.
Coupled with the addition of former Adelaide and Hawthorn defender Kyle Hartigan and the return of Max Scott and Michael Randone, Queenscliff has reason to be bullish about playing finals for the first time since 2018.
“He’s a great young player, and he fits our profile so well,” Jamieson said.
“We’ve got a really young list, and we want to make sure they can start playing together. If they can get to 30-40 games together, then we think they can be really dangerous.
“Some of them are already halfway or three-quarters of the way there.”
Jamieson is hopeful McGough isn’t the last signing Queenscliff makes.
“We’d like to get a couple more experienced players in,” he said. “I wouldn’t say we’ve completely closed the door.
“We have a points system we have to operate in, we’ve got a salary cap we have to stay within, so it’s starting to get tight.
“But, we haven’t paid overs for anyone yet.
“If we can fit inside both of those things, we’ll have a look at any talent that comes our way.”
