Fresh from winning Ocean Grove’s best-and-fairest as a 19-year-old, Jamison Hallam has signed with GFNL club South Barwon.
Hallam takes the number of young Grubbers joining the Swans to three, with the previously announced Kye Annand, and Rory Phillips also trying their hand at the next level.
Hallam has earned an invite to train with Geelong’s VFL squad alongside Annand, while Phillips will try his hand at Port Melbourne.
“Both those boys, we would like to see them down back, as well as through the middle of the ground,” South coach Mark Neeld, who guided Ocean Grove to four consecutive premierships between 2000-03, said.
“So, you’re probably talking half back and wing for both of them would be their preferred roles at the moment.
“We do know they’re both young, and that’s where they’ll start.
“‘As to where they may end up, you might find that, particularly in Rory’s case, he might find himself playing a little bit inside mid.
“Both of them can take a mark, so at some stage, we’ll throw them forward to see if they can catch it with the footy coming at them.”
Neeld revealed that Annand, who previously spent a season with rival GFNL club Geelong West, reached out to South Barwon about joining the club.
“We played Colac in Round 17, and Kye was our guest for the day,” Neeld said.
“He sat in the team meeting and spent the day with the coaches in the coaching box.
“And after that, he and his step-dad decided that South Barwon was the place that they wanted to be his feeder club.”
Midfielder Taylor Mulraney will be like a recruit for the Swans after missing the 2025 season with an injury suffered playing in a practice match with Edenhope-Aspley.
16 players from the club’s under-18 program, which won the AFL Barwon Division 1 premiership and were runner-up in Division 3, will graduate to open-age football.
“We have a lot of numbers, so we will lose some players to other clubs,” Neeld said.
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