Delisted Melbourne defender Marty Hore has nominated Echuca as his home club when he is not selected for VFL duties with North Melbourne.
The 26-year-old, originally from Leitchville, made 14 appearances for Melbourne before being delisted at the end of the 2021 season.
Hore was among the best players for North Melbourne’s VFL side in its 24-point win against Williamstown in round one.
He completed pre-season with the Kangaroos after leaving Melbourne and, under VFL rules, is eligible to play with a nominated country club when available.
Hore was taken at number 56 in the 2018 National Draft and made his debut with the Demons in round one of 2019, against Port Adelaide.
He had 22 possessions in the match and laid three tackles.
The Kangaroos are not scheduled to play on Saturday, April 9 — when the Murray Bombers are due to play Rochester in the opening round of the season.
Echuca co-coach Simon Maddox said Echuca was Hore’s home club while he was playing with Collingwood, prior to him being drafted to Melbourne.
“Then he got drafted and we didn’t see him for a couple of years. I am not sure we will see him in the green and white this year, hopefully we will,” Maddox said.
The Kangaroos have another bye on May 21.
Another Echuca VFL product, Angus Byrne, was selected with Geelong for the weekend, but was forced to withdraw with an ankle injury. He is expected to miss two weeks.
Hore told The Riv he was not too sure what North Melbourne’s stance was on allowing players to return to play with their “home club”.
He said during his time at Collingwood they could not afford for him to get injured.
“I haven’t spoken to them about it, but I think they are a little bit different to Collingwood,” he said.
Hore said there was no chance of him returning for the April 9 game because he was currently “managing” a shoulder injury.
“I will be resting that up and I have the mid-season draft coming up,” he said.
“The goal is to play some good footy between now and then and get back on to a list.”
Hore is coming off a knee reconstruction at the start of last year and has only played the three games since that operation.
“I played in one intra-club, a VFL practice and then round one of the VFL against Williamstown,” he said.
“I thought I played average. I had some good defensive moments, but my ball use wasn’t at the level I wanted.
“I’ve been out for a little bit, so it will take some time to get back into it.”
Hore played mostly at centre half-back for the Kangaroos’ VFL team.
While he will use April 9 to recuperate, he did not rule out a return to Echuca at some stage, if his mid-season draft goals did not realise a list spot.
“We have four byes this year, the competition has 19 teams, so there are a fair few byes,” Hore said.
“I will see how I am tracking and the situation I am in, whether or not I get to come back to Echuca and play.”
Hore did suggest he might be a chance to return home to Leitchville on the weekend of April 9, to potentially be an onlooker for the Rochester and Echuca match.
“I like to get up to the farm on weekends off,” he said.
He said the road back to fitness had been difficult, so he did not want to do anything that threatened another AFL opportunity.
“I’ve worked hard to get healthy and fit.”
Hore said he had been regularly talking with Echuca co-coach Andrew Walker about his form, movements and the potential for a return to Echuca at some stage.
“We chat regularly,” he said.