It's been just over a year since Dean Robertson last ran out for a competitive game of football, but his most recent memories are good ones.
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He was part of the Waubra premiership side which defeated Hepburn in the 2019 Central Highlands Football League grand final.
Now the 26-year-old is planning to pack up and leave Ballarat in a bid to get back playing the game he loves.
Robertson will join Sebastopol footballer Luke Kiel and former North Ballarat Roosters player and Hawthorn rookie Andrew Boseley at the Southern Districts Crocs in the NTFL.
READ MORE: Kiel to get first taste of footy in top end
"I have been wanting to do it for a couple of years and thought this would be the right time to do it," Robertson said.
"It's been 12 months since I pulled on the boots and had a run around so it's getting really exciting now."
Robertson said he had been assisted in organising the trip by Newlyn's Dan Wehrung, who previously spent time with the Crocs.
The key position tall said he didn't really have any plans to return to play back at Waubra in 2021.
"I'm only going up there for seven months at the start, but if I like it we could stay up there for another year," he said.
Robertson, who spent a season with the North Ballarat Roosters in the development league, said the COVID-19 situation in Victoria might be a reason to extend the trip.
"Instead of being seven months up there, it could blow out to being 18 months or a year up there," he told The Courier.
"If there's still all the restrictions down here and you can't go out and do much... there's no restrictions up there so why would you come back and be held back again?"
Robertson is originally from NSW, near Wagga, and spent time as a youngster training with the GWS Giants.
He joined Waubra in 2014 and has been an integral member of the club's rise to the top.