VFL premiership players Xavier Murphy and Ryan Bathie among a swag of recruits at Blackburn
BLACKBURN has added two VFL premiership players to its list as it aims to make a return to Eastern Football League finals.
2013 Box Hill premiership player Xavier Murphy, who played 47 games for the Hawks from 2012 to 2014, has signed on from De La Salle.
The Panthers have also signed Geelong 2012 premiership tall Ryan Bathie, who played four games with Richmond’s VFL team last year.
“One of the things we needed was height, we really lacked height to compete last year,” Blackburn coach Kon Karavias said.
“He is a really good one-on-one contested marker, strong leader and with a young group we needed to add some experience.”
In a further boost to the side’s tall timber for 2017, former Eastern Football League Team of the Year member Matt Tuminello has returned to Blackburn.
The towering ruckman, who won consecutive best and fairests at Ballarat Football League club Lake Wendouree in 2013 and 2014, is returning to football after a season off due to work commitments.
Mid-sized utility Julian Soccio has also joined Blackburn after three years at Box Hill, which included seven senior games last year.
Dour Greenvale defender Daniel Campisano, an Essendon District interleague representative, has also joined the club as an assistant coach.
Ryan Exon, who captained Oakleigh Chargers to its 2012 TAC Cup grand final win over Gippsland Power, has also landed at Morton Park after spending 2016 with Frankston but will spend most the year with Coburg.
The Panthers finished 2016 with a 7-11 record after an injury-riddled second half to the season but are tilted at a return to the Division 1 top-five.
“I’d honestly be disappointed with a healthy list and the way boys are training at the minute and their headspace if we didn’t get into finals,” Karavias said.
“I’d be disappointed for all of us because that is certainly the way we are going at the minute.”