Senior Men’s List Update

Departures

As announced at the B&F, Nathan Batley and Kaine Stevens have announced their retirement from SANFL football and Tom Murphy will be heading back home to Victoria. Also departing the club is another premiership player, Josh Schiller, after 118 League games and a key member and leader of the team he will not be going on at the Bloods in 2022.

Other departures:

• Hamish Gordon
• Hayden Elliot
• Luke Heitman
• Kieran Lovell
• Kyle Martin
• Cooper Gilbert
• Angus Rana
• Zac Wooldridge

The club would like to thank all the players who are departing and wish them all the very best in the future.

Arrivals

As announced at the B&F, the club was delighted to sign Kaiden Brand for the next two seasons along with the following players for 2022:

Josh Carmichael – A strong midfielder who trained with the club in the preseason before going back to play for Merbein in the Sunraysia Football League where he was voted as the Best Player in the competition for 2021. Wins his own football, has an elite work rate and makes excellent decisions with ball in hand.

Liam Delahunty – Previously in the GWS Academy before going to Port Melbourne this year. This versatile interceptor defender can play tall or small, Liam has a great football IQ and excellent skills. We have been working on getting him to West Adelaide for the last 18 months and it is great to finally get him to the club for 2022.

Michael Mattingly – A high quality goal kicking mid fielder with elite foot skills on both sides of his body. Michael represented NSW/ACT at U18 level before moving to the VFL to play with Coburg. For the past 3 years he has starred for Kyabram in the Goulburn Football League winning the league’s best and fairest in 2019. Michael commented “Playing SANFL is something I’ve been interested in for a long time, and I’ve had a great relationship with West Adelaide for a number of years now. I’m keen to play a role and assist the club in climbing up the ladder”.

Bayleigh Welsh – The captain of the Dandenong Stingrays in the NAB League this year gone, will be a 20YO next year. One of the best characters you will find in the NAB League, is a quality player with some amazing traits, if it wasn’t for a couple of small setbacks this year he would be drafted for sure. We hope he still gets drafted but if he doesn’t he will be at the club next year to continue his development. He has elite skills, plays across half back and reads the game exceptionally well.

Clayton Gay – Another Dandenong Stingray boy from this year, Clayton will come across with Bayleigh and continue to develop should he not get drafted this year. A 20YO next year and someone who was one of the best players in the country at 16. He is a classy player with an elite left foot kick, someone that knows where the goals are and also makes excellent decisions with ball in hand.

Blair Rubock – A player with huge X factor, the club has been working to get Blair for the last 18 months and were delighted to land him for 2022. He played in Tassie for Clarence in 2019 before heading to the QAFL in 2020 and 2021 where he played with Labrador. Blair is a small pressure forward who runs sub 11 seconds for 100m and is dangerous in front of goal. He has an amazing spring and has taken some massive marks in recent years which provides some added excitement to his game.

Welcome to you all and your families.