The Mooroopna Football Netball Club has announced a big new addition to its football squad this week — literally.
Ruckman Will Bella, who stands at a towering 198cm tall, has signed on with the Cats for season 2023.
The Gold Coast Suns Academy product is shifting down to Victoria from Queensland to play with VFL side Coburg as well as Mooroopna.
Bella played three games for the Gold Coast Suns in the VFL and three in the NAB League, also suiting up for Palm Beach Currumbin in the QAFL.
Bella will join fellow former Gold Coast Academy players Ethan Hunt and Jack Johnston in the blue-and-white hoops in 2023.
Hunt and Johnston both played for Mooroopna and in the VFL last year for Footscray and Port Melbourne, respectively.
“Will is 12 months younger than Ethan and Jack but all boys are under 21 and really keen to go as far as they can with their football,” Mooroopna coach John Lamont said.
“Obviously they have talent but more importantly they are good people and are also great role models for our own youngsters.
“All three boys are great mates, young tradesmen who live together and are doing everything they can to be better players, keep their AFL dream alive and we are rapt they want Mooroopna to be their home club.
“These committed young men have really been embraced by our playing group and their effort is thoroughly appreciated by players, coaches and the wider club.”
Both Bella and Hunt were at Mooroopna’s recent training camp at Port Arlington, with Lamont saying he was impressed with what he saw from Bella.
“We know what Ethan is like, he never stops. But Will worked incredibly hard also and the way he mixed in with his new teammates you would have thought he had been with us for years,” Lamont said.
Bella is the latest of a handful of big-name additions to Mooroopna for 2023, with Nathan Drummond (Footscray VFL), Bryce Rutherford (Berwick Football Club), Mackenzie Cowley (Tongala), and Daniel Johnstone and Kris Bextram (Barooga) all joining the Cats.