Mooroopna has added another piece to its growing arsenal of off-season acquisitions with favourite son Nathan Drummond set to return to the Cattery in 2023.
Drummond has strong family ties to Mooroopna Football Netball Club, with his father Ben donning the blue and white hoops and mother Leonie featuring in an A-grade premiership, making this move a homecoming of sorts.
He last played senior football for the Cats in 2014 before being drafted to AFL club Richmond with pick 52 in that year’s national draft.
The Mooroopna product spent four years at Tigerland and registered five senior games in what was a heavily interrupted AFL career.
Delisted following the 2018 season, Drummond immediately joined VFL outfit Footscray where he has played for the past four seasons.
The 27-year-old showed interest in returning to his junior club for the upcoming campaign and will split his time between Footscray and Mooroopna.
Drummond said he was excited to call himself a Mooroopna footballer once again.
“I have been keeping an eye on Mooroopna and have received plenty of positive feedback from my Bulldogs teammate Ethan Hunt, who could not speak more highly of the club, its coaching set up led by John Lamont and the players,” Drummond said.
“I really am looking forward to pulling on the jumper again and playing at Mooroopna. I cannot wait.”
Drummond’s return to Mooroopna comes as a major coup for an up-and-coming Cats side that in 2022 made the finals for the first time in eight seasons.
Riding that momentum the club has been active in the recruiting space, bringing the likes of Kris Bextream, Daniel Johnston (Barooga) and Mackenzie Cowley (Tongala) as it looks to take another step forward in 2023.
Part of Mooroopna’s strategy of providing a program that is successful in developing its youth and encouraging local players to return to the club after stints away, football director Mick Betson said he was thrilled with the Cats’ recruiting haul.
“Nathan always had an ambition to return to Mooroopna at some stage,” Betson said.
“He still keeps in contact with his former Bushies coach Darren Ogier, who is a senior assistant with us at Mooroopna. He went to school at St Mary’s and knows a number of our players. He will be 28 by the start of next season and in his prime, which is great for us.
“We have been selective with our recruiting and another homegrown product returning complements our three Murray league boys Kris Bextream and Daniel Johnston (Barooga) and Mackenzie Cowley (Tongala) who all want to prove themselves at GVL level.”