Sunbury Kangaroos have added some firepower to their squad for next year’s Riddell District Football League season.
The club last week announced it had signed key forward Josh Burgess, who crosses from the Sunbury Lions.
Burgess was a vital cog for the Lions team that made the Ballarat Football League grand final this year before losing to Bacchus Marsh.
The forward kicked 29 goals in 19 games this year.
Kangaroos coach Jarrod Dixon said they had identified the need of another key forward to work with Ryan Pretty.
“We identified our weak points, where we need to get stronger,” Dixon said.
“Burgess fills one of those roles. He has been part of the BFL representative squad and you want to bring in quality players who are at that level, and he’s got a lot of mates at the club.” Dixon said the club needed a greater spread of goalkickers if it was to close the gap with the top sides.
The Kangaroos finished seventh this year, missing the finals on percentage. Pretty, who kicked 39 goals and Thomas Ellard (31) were the only players to exceed 20 goals for the Kangaroos.
Having more firepower up forward would reduce the pressure on the resting ruckman. “Other clubs have a good spread of goal- kickers,” Dixon said. “Ryan and ‘Burgo’ in tandem will help us with that.
“We need multiple players kicking goals. It’s hard enough to play in the ruck without having to play another key role.”
Dixon said they were looking to add a further two or three players in the next fortnight.
In this off season, he said, they’d look to fill specific positions and speak only to players who could fit the bill.
The Kangaroos look to have held onto most of this year’s playing group.
However, Thomas Ellard, now training with Werribee’s Victorian Football League squad, could be one omission if picked to fill a spot on the Tigers’ list.
As well, Jordan and Mitchell Baumgartner have signed with fellow RDFL club Rockbank.
Jordan spent a year with the Kangaroos after crossing from the Rams, while Mitchell was previously an under-18.5 best and fairest winner with the Kangaroos.
