Springbank has a new avenue to goal with news Paul O’Shea has joined Tigerland for season 2018.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The former Western Bulldogs-listed big man will pull on the yellow and black this year after officially making the move from Wyndhamvale.
O’Shea has been lured to the Central Highlands Football League club through a connection with Springbank’s new coach Troy Beamond.
He spent four seasons with Wyndhamvale, where he booted 100 goals in a season, represented the Western Region league, was a WRFL team of the year member and lifted the division two premiership cup.
“He’s super exciting,” Beamond told The Courier.
“He probably gives us what we haven’t had probably since (Paul) McMahon left. He’s a six-foot-four, big key position player, which is what we needed.
“We needed something to be able to kick to. It’s not about him kicking bags of goals, it’s about him giving us a target and then bring other people into the game.”
O’Shea, who is close friends with another Springbank recruit in Chris Graham, spent three seasons with the Bulldogs after being drafted there in 2006, but never played an AFL game.
Originally from Rockhampton, O’Shea has played plenty of state league football around Australia and even represented the Suncoast Lions, which was the reserves team for the Brisbane Lions.
The Tigers have enjoyed a good recruiting campaign during the off-season, which has resulted in key players such as Graham, James and David Wall and Ryan Bulluss joining the club.
Beamond said the recruiting effort had been successful.
“One of the key things we targeted when I came on board was that we wanted to get a couple of quality onballers in and really we think we’ve done that with Graham and James Wall in particular,” he said.
“And we really wanted to bring in a key forward and O’Shea ticks that box.
“With what we’ve done with our recruits coming in, we can’t complain with those guys. We are real confident in those guys and what they’ll be able to deliver to the club and the league.”
Meanwhile, Mitch Couch has been confirmed as a departure after confirmation he has returned to old club Nirranda.
Couch, the brother of former coach Nick, only played for the Tigers last season. He played in a drought-breaking premiership at Nirranda in 2016.
Beamond will coach his first Springbank game on Saturday, April 7 when the senior team takes on Buninyong in round one.
The Tigers then have a somewhat easy run, with fixtures against Carngham-Linton, Ballan, Clunes and Dunnstown before a round six bye due to Smythesdale not fielding a senior side.