BEYOND THE BOUNDARY – MARCH 11
A connection with a current player has helped reigning GDFNL grand finalist East Geelong sign Lara co-captain Sam Purdy.
Purdy is good friends with former Cat Galen Munari, who arrived at Richmond Crescent from the Snakepit ahead of last year.
He is the latest Lara player to find a new footballing home after the GFNL club placed its senior and reserves teams in recess last month.
“People say it all the time, but players are the best recruiters,” Eagles coach Ned Aulsebrook said.
“Galen’s a well-liked member of our group, and he had a pretty good connection with ‘Purds’ from his time at Lara.
“‘Purds’ spent a lot of time at Galen’s house with his young son, Hugo.
“He was pretty keen to come and have a kick with us. He’s done a fair few sessions over the pre-season with us, and he played in our practice match against Ocean Grove last Wednesday night.”
A player with the ability to play in a range of positions, including the ruck, Aulsebrook says with experienced duo Jack Dickson (Police Academy) and Tim Lee (work) missing the 2026 season, Purdy is likely to find a role in East’s backline.
“We’ve probably thrown him around a little bit,” Aulsebrook said.
“We’ve put him in the midfield in our match sim for most of the time just to get him around the footy as much as we can.
“But we’ve also moved him through the backline.
“With Jack Dickson pulling the pin and, recently, Timmy Lee also, there’s probably a couple of spots available there, and that might be where we look to start in.
“There’s still a couple of practice matches to go and about a month of pre-season left before Round 1, so that’s all sort of up in the air at the moment.
“We’re hoping we don’t have to use him in the ruck; we’ve got some flexibility in that spot at the moment, which is really good.”
Aulsebrook, who will enter 2026 as a non-playing coach after announcing his retirement in the off-season, says he hasn’t spoken to Purdy about whether his move is permanent or whether he will return to Lara when the Cats take the field again.
“He’s played all his junior football there; it’s his home club; he’s grown up out there,” Aulesbrook said.
“So there would be a huge pull to go back there and try and help the club out if they were to get up for next year.
“There would be absolutely no hard feelings there. And if it’s only one year, it’s only one year.
“We’re just happy to have him on board.”
East Geelong will hold an intra-club practice match on March 21 before hosting Central Highlands club Dunnstown on March 28.
The Eagles, who are chasing their first premiership since 2009, head to Corio to start the new season on April 11.
Meanwhile, Purdy’s former Lara teammate Nick Beekmans has joined Bellarine club Geelong Amateur.
Beekmans is the son of former Cats forward Jerome, who is good friends with Lara great Matt Kershaw – the father of Ammos co-coach Riley.
X: @krockfootball
