Tom Ruggles may be stepping down as co-coach of Drysdale at the end of the season, but the star veteran will play on with the BFNL club in 2024.
The former Geelong defender is one of three players the Hawks have announced as committing to next year, along with star midfielder Ben Fennell, the experienced James Breust and young gun Ben Henderson.
“They’re the ones that we’ve announced on our socials, and over the next few weeks, we’ll go through the whole list and start announcing more,” co-coach Ben Carmichael, who will go solo as coach in 2024, said.
“We’re just working through that at the moment, and it’s really exciting at this stage, and we’ll look to re-sign nearly all our list,” he said.
Drysdale sits comfortably in third spot on the ladder, with a win over Newcomb at Grinter Reserve on Saturday guaranteeing the double chance.
However, Carmichael said Newcomb couldn’t be discounted this weekend, despite sitting second-last following consecutive wins over Queenscliff and Portarlington.
“They’re coming off a couple of really good wins, and they’re playing with high confidence, so we’ll certainly be cut out for a good game,” he said.
“We want to really try and build some momentum moving into finals, so this is another important week so we can continue to improve and try and play our best footy, leading into the finals in three weeks’ time.”
