Grovedale has declared Cassidy Parish a required player after the Tigers rejected the midfielder’s request for a clearance to GDFNL club Winchelsea.
Parish is keen to return to his junior club to play alongside brother Fin, but Grovedale has confirmed the Geelong Falcons premiership player remains contracted after signing a two-year deal ahead of the 2023 season.
Tigers coach Jacob Spolding revealed that Parish, who has made 61 appearances in yellow and black, raised the prospect of departing before Christmas.
“It would have been late November, early December, that he came to me and expressed a desire to potentially go back and play at Winchelsea,” Spolding said.
“That’s now become clear that that’s what he wants to do, and Winchelsea have lodged a clearance, which they’re entitled to do.
“But, we’ve declined it, and, at this stage, we intend to hold Cassidy to his contract and hopefully work with him to have him play some games with us this year.”
Spolding said Parish, who has VFL experience at Werribbee on his resume, is a crucial part of his plans for 2024 as the Tigers look to break a finals drought dating back to 2016.
“When I took the job on, he was one of the players I asked about, and it was told to me that Cass was signed for 2024, which excited me,” Spolding said.
“Having seen him as a coach that’s coached him and coached against him, he’s certainly got attributes that not many players have.
“He’s 6’3”, plays inside mid, wins the footy – those players are hard to replace.
“We didn’t try and go out and recruit an inside mid of that calibre knowing we had Cass.
“For that to potentially be a hole in our list is something we’ll have to work through in the next month or so and see what transpires with the clearance request.
“And whether or not we can sit down with him and get him to potentially come back and play at our footy club.”
Spolding says it’s not to the point of making Parish sit out of the game.
“I’ve only had the one sitdown with Cass, so I’d like to get down in front of him again and put where we’re coming from and our situation as a footy club on the table,” Spolding said.
“If Cass is still adamant he wants to play at Winchelsea, then the football club will sit down and work through what that means for us and what it looks like for Cass and Winchelsea.”
Winchelsea coach Christian Shawplansg to have Parish in a navy blue jumper and is hopeful of a resolution with Grovedale.
“I think most of the local footy world would know the situation, and we don’t shy away from Cassidy’s situation; we’ve just got to work through it,” Shaw said.
“We hope that at the end of the day, common sense plays a part.”
