Tara Murray
Rupertswood has boosted its ranks on and off the field with the signing of key forward Dean Galea as a playing co-coach.
Galea, who had a long career in the Victorian Football League, comes to the Sharks after dominating with Keilor in the Essendon District Football League premier division in recent seasons.
The Sharks other co-coach Arron Bray said the signing of Galea was exactly what they needed.
“I would say that we lacked a little bit of leadership with a young group,” he said.
“We’ve tried to look to address that and Dean sort of popped up. He will add value to the playing group and he will have ideas and values and I’ll have mine and we’ll mesh them together.”
Galea, who lives in the Sunbury area, will help the Sharks forward line.
He won the Jim ‘Frosty’ Miller Medal as the leading goal kicker in the VFL in 2012 and 2013.
Galea then played with Spotswood and Avondale Heights before joining Keilor in 2016.
He kicked 101 goals in 2016 and 81 in 2017 and had been a key pillar for the Blues in their success in recent times. He only played 10 games this season due to injury.
Bray said Galea while they hope that Galea will kick a few goals for them, his impact will be more than that.
“We shared the goals around a bit this year,” he said.
“Jacob Chahine is progressing well as a young fellow. Dean will be a good target for us, but he will also teach the younger blokes.
“He’ll be a good player at this level.”
Bray said the signing of Galea as their first new signing was a handy one. He said they were talking to other possible recruits.
In a good sign for the club, the majority of the playing group had re-signed before the season ended.
The Sharks showed massive improvement this year, finishing in fifth spot. They were the only team to beat premiers Airport West.
