Former Essendon footballer Nick O'Brien returning to Carngham-Linton for 2023 Central Highlands Football League season

Former Essendon midfielder Nick O'Brien will line up for the Saints next season, with brother Dean returning alongside him.

After progressing through the club's junior ranks, Nick O'Brien played in Carngham-Linton's 2009 grand final loss before moving to the North Ballarat Rebels' program, from where Essendon drafted him with the 59th pick of the 2011 national draft - the same year he captained St Patrick's College to victory in the Herald Sun Shield.

He played 14 games for the Bombers across four years - many under the shadow of the club's supplements saga, for which O'Brien did not receive an infraction notice - before being delisted at the end of 2015.

A move to Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL beckoned in 2016, where he finished second in the league's best-and-fairest count.

After a year spent as Essendon VFL captain in 2017, he moved to Essendon District Football League outfit Strathmore with who he won a premiership this season.

Dean O'Brien returns to the Saints, where he was runner-up in the best and fairest in 2019 and 2021, after a year at Strathmore.

Carngham-Linton president Greg Spratling was thrilled by the returns.

"The return of Nick back to the club was one that Nick himself was committed to doing, and the timing for Nick and his family to return was perfect," he said.

"Nick will bring so much experience back to our club, and the guidance and leadership he will provide for all our junior and senior players is something that you cannot buy.

"It will be so valuable moving forward for all, and we cannot wait to see Nick back on the field in Carngham colours.

"This is such exciting news for our great club and the recruiting team in which Nick and Dean have been actively involved in."

Nick O'Brien has long maintained a connection with his boyhood club and returned for a one-off appearance in 2017.

Carngham-Linton has found success hard to come by in recent seasons, last celebrating a win in round 11, 2019, over 1180 days ago.

The Saints have won just eight games in the past seven seasons - including three winless campaigns - with its best finish in the CHFL of 11th coming in its first year in the competition, in 2011.

Last month, coach Clayton Scoble re-signed for a further two years and expressed his desire to take the club to a maiden CHFL finals appearance.

"We're all on the same page, the (club) committee and myself. We know we have a big job ahead of us, but we know the direction we're heading," he told The Courier.

"The player group is tight-knit and invested.

"This group wants to create its own history."

Have you tried The Courier's app? It can be downloaded here.