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Bose brings Birre mate Bolitho to East

September 1, 2020 9:45 am in by
Michael Bolitho in action for Birregurra. (Colac Herald Image/Tammy Brown)

NEWLY-appointed East Geelong coach Ben Boseley has wasted no time strengthening the club’s list after signing former Birregurra teammate Michael Bolitho.

Boseley played alongside Bolitho, who has GFL senior experience with Colac, during his four-year stint as coach of the Colac and District club.

“I’ve got a pretty special relationship with Michael,” Boseley said. “I recruited him to Birregurra in 2014, and he was with me for those four years.

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“I knew he hadn’t been playing too much football over the last couple of years because he’s been working in Melbourne.

“But, he’s going to be a pretty important player for us, and I’m looking forward to seeing him in the GDFL.

“It’s a different competition with a different collection of players, but he’s got some really great attributes that are going to help our footy team going forward.

Boseley said Bolitho, who finished third in the CDFL best-and-fairest, the Mahoney Medal, in 2015, will spend the majority of his time in the midfield.

“He’ll predominantly be used at the stoppages and clearances,” Boseley said.

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“His capacity in the contest is quite amazing, and his ability to get out of those positions quite quickly is going to be important for us.

“His ability to spread and his aerobic capacity is quite big; he’s going to be really good in the clinches for us.”

Boseley has been busy speaking with the Eagles list in recent weeks, including 2019 captain Ash Brown.

Brown has moved to Queensland for work, and a return date to Victoria is unknown. However, Boseley is confident he will be wearing maroon and gold in 2021.

“He’s pretty keen to be involved next year,” Boseley said.

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“He knows the position of the club, and obviously 2019 was a good year.

“With the collection of players we’ve got recommitted, Bolitho has signed up as well; there’s a good feeling.

“So we’ll just have to wait-and-see. See how work goes for him, and he’ll let us know.

“But, I’m sure he’s not going to want to miss out on what next year looks like for us.”

Twitter: @tom_king79

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