Daniel Venditti, one of the main reasons Beaufort was able to lift the Central Highlands Football League premiership cup in 2018, has departed the club after one season.
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The gun onballer has lodged a clearance request to Northern league side Bundoora, where he will join brother-in-law and new senior coach Andrew Sturgess.
Venditti, a decorated VFL player who won three best and fairest awards with Coburg, shaped as a boom signing for the Crows when he arrived last pre-season and delivered in spades. He played 15 games for Beaufort and was named in the side’s best on 13 occasions, including in the grand final victory against Buninyong.
That triumph secured the club’s first senior premiership since 1996.
Beaufort coach Rohan Brown said Venditti had been “huge” for the Crows in his short time at the club.
Brown said Venditti was a great person who helped bring the senior group even closer together.
“It’s more of a family decision to be honest, which sits well with all of us and the playing group,” Brown said of his move to Bundoora.
“We were very lucky just to get 12 months out of him.”
Venditti’s departure follows news star forward and fellow premiership player Jack Duke is off to Avoca.
The dynamic goal-kicker, who won the best on ground medal during the Crows’ grand final victory, will play with the Maryborough Castlemaine District league club in 2019.
Duke was lured to Beaufort for the 2015 campaign and was a leading player in the CHFL across four years.
Another confirmed departure ahead of next season is ruckman/forward Scott Howard.
Howard is returning to former club North Ballarat City, where he played before moving to Beaufort.
Howard was recruited to Beaufort at the end of the 2014 season and spent his time in the CHFL playing both seniors and reserves.
During the Crows’ premiership-winning campaign of 2018, Howard featured in 14 senior matches, but was dropped to the reserves in the latter part of the year.
He was part of losing reserves grand finals in 2017 and this season.
Brown has committed to the senior coaching job for 2019, which will be his third year in charge.
Next season will be a busy one for Brown, who has also accepted the role of CHFL interleague coach. He will share the responsibility with Bungaree’s Heath Pyke.
The pair has taken over the reins from Clive Raak, who led the league to narrow defeats in the past three AFL Victoria Community Championships.
The CHFL, which lost to Riddell District by three points in May this year, is 25th on the statewide rankings chart.