Thomson’s fruitful off-season of recruiting has continuted with the arrival of Billie Smedts.
The former Geelong and Carlton player will shortly be announced as joining the Tigers, with K rock Football obtaining an image of Smedts in a Thomson polo shirt at the club’s Godfrey Street base.
Originally from North Warrnambool, Smedts was selected by the Cats from the Geelong Falcons with pick 15 in the 2010 National Draft.
The 31-year-old made 38 appearances and kicked 19 goals in six injury-impacted years in the Hoops before being traded to Carlton at the end of the 2016 season.
In his lone year with the Blues, Smedts played nine games before being delisted.
He played with Leopold in 2018 before returning to North Warrnambool the following year, helping the Eagles to grand final appearances in 2019 and 2022.
Smedts spent 2023 in the Southern League with Port Melbourne Colts.
Despite speculation linking him to Thomson late last year, coach Paul Lynch says Smedts wasn’t on their radar.
“It’s only the last couple of weeks that we’ve seriously looked at getting Billie on board,” he said.
“He’s good mates with Lucas Boyd and works with ‘Bobby’ (former Tigers star Stephen Macleod), so it’s a good fit for Billie.”
Smedts joins Boyd (Kolora-Noorat), Nick Lynch (South Colac) and Logan Mitchell (Barwon Heads) as arrivals for last year’s runner-up.
Lynch says Smedts will fill a midfield hole Thomson hopes can take it one step further in 2024.
He also expects Smedts to spend some time forward.
“It’s an area we identified that we were deficient in; Inverleigh had us covered for midfield depth,” Lynch said.
Thomson opens its season with a home meeting against Winchelsea on April 6.
