Former Brisbane Lion Mitch Golby has made the move from the VFL to Melton South in the Ballarat Football League.
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He is crossing to the Panthers from Port Melbourne with former Gippsland Power teammate Dale Hoghton.
Each of the 26-year-olds will boost Melton South’s midfield.
Golby bounced back from tearing an anterior cruciate ligament while in the TAC Cup in the lead up to the 2009 national under-18 championships to play 56 games with the Lions from 2011 to 2015.
He was delisted at the end 2015 and returned to Victoria to play with Port Melbourne.
The 183cm Golby made 15 appearances with the Borough last year, but managed only eight in the season just gone.
He played in a final, but missed out on being part of the Port Melbourne premiership team.
Hoghton arrives at Melton Recreation Reserve as a VFL journeyman.
He made his VFL debut in a one-off appearance with Casey Scorpions in 2010 – his last season in the TAC Cup.
Hoghton spent four seasons from 2011 with Williamstown, where he managed just a handful of VFL season games.
He returned to his home club Leongatha in the Gippsland in 2015.
Hoghton earned a spot on the Footscray VFL list in 2016, when he played eight VFL games with the Bulldogs as well as lining up with Leongatha.
He ventured to Port Melbourne this year, where he spent the whole season in the now disbanded AFL Development League.
Melton South recruiting panel coordinator Sean Triplett said the Panthers were focusing on bolstering their midfield to assist the likes of ball magnet Mark Lynch.
“That’s where we need more depth, more run.”
MEANWHILE, the Panthers have not given up hope of retaining former Essendon onballer Nick Kommer, who enjoyed an outstanding 2017 with the club.
Although the 27-year-old has signed a two-year deal with East Fremantle in the WAFL, Triplett said he was not yet putting a red line through Kommer.
He said Kommer was still in Melbourne and his move was not cut and dried.
Key defender Adam El Houli has left the Panthers though.
He moved to Melton South from Deer Park in the Western Region league this year.