Dynamic forward Jack Duke, who won the best on ground medal in the Crows’ grand final triumph over Buninyong back in September, has signed with Maryborough Castlemaine District league club Avoca for 2019.

There he joins former Beaufort player AJ Bourke, who is now joint senior coach of the Bulldogs.

Bourke said Duke was a huge recruit for the club.

“Bringing Jack in has obviously been massive for us. We let the playing group know on Sunday and the response has been great,” Bourke told The Courier.

Bourke said the club started chatting with Duke in July with the hope of luring him across to boost its midfield depth in 2019.

“It was obviously a hard decision for Jack to leave Beaufort.. but we are definitely heading the right direction,” Bourke said.

“I think it’s not only a big pick-up for Avoca, but for the league. It’s really starting to show that the league is growing and has plenty of good players.”

Duke was recruited to Beaufort for the 2015 campaign and was a leading player in the CHFL across four seasons.

He was named in the league’s team of the year, represented the Highlanders at interleague level and finished runner-up in the Geoff Taylor Medal count.

The 2018 season saw Duke finish as a joint winner of the CHFL goal-kicking award before booting five majors in the grand final success against the Bombers.

Avoca finished last season in 10^th spot on the ladder with seven wins from its 16 matches.

Beaufort will again be coached by Rohan Brown in 2019.