NEWTOWN & Chilwell has landed one of local football's greatest recruits Geelong premiership player Brad Ottens.
The giant ruckman will take on a junior development role with the Eagles and will play up forward this season, further strengthening the club's bid to break a 25-year GFL premiership drought.
Ottens, who retired from the AFL at the end of last season along with fellow Cats champions Cameron Ling, Cameron Mooney and Darren Milburn, has been highly sought after by local clubs, with BFL club Barwon Heads also rumoured to have been in talks.
But the Eagles yesterday confirmed they had won the battle to secure the 31 year-old.
"We're rapt, we're really excited to have a person of Brad's quality on board at our footy club obviously he'll bring heaps of experience to us," Newtown senior coach Jacob Spolding said.
"He has probably done enough ruck work in his time at AFL level so he's probably going to be an asset for us down forward I would suggest."
Ottens' arrival at Elderslie Reserve offsets the loss of another former Cat, Max Rooke, who has returned to Geelong to take on a role with the VFL side after serving as assistant coach last season.
The club has also spoken to Mooney, however Spolding claimed it was no closer to securing the big forward.
Ottens is the latest player to sign at Newtown, with South Warrnambool recruit and VFL hopeful Matt Sully and former under-17 Australian represenative Ryan Normington also on board.
And Spolding remained hopeful that another ex-Cat Tim Callan would recommit after his recent marriage, although he admitted Callan was still undecided.
Spolding, a dual VFL premiership player with North Ballarat, said the club's signings would help position the Eagles to contend with GFL powerhouses like Bell Park, St Joseph's and South Barwon.
"We were told that we were a couple of players short of where we need to be to compete ... so we've gone out to recruit some high quality players," he said after their fourth-placed finish in 2011.
"There was obviously some areas that we needed to improve on last year which we've identified (and) we've tried to strengthen."
Former North Shore coach Bernard Lynch has also signed on as match day bench coach, he said.
Spolding is confident that 19 year-old Sully, who last year represented Victoria Country and is currently training with Geelong's VFL team, would strengthen the Eagles' midfield.
"He can certainly play so we're rapt to have him on board and we're looking to him to play some good footy for us for a number of years, with him being so young," he said.
Last Modified on 07/01/2013 13:38