East Sunbury’s return to the Essendon District Football League division 2 competition has received a massive boost, with the club signing Shylo Smith.
Smith, a premier player in both the EDFL and Western Region Football League, joins the Thunder as an assistant coach to playing coach Aaron Kite.
For Kite, who played in an EDFL division 1 premiership with Smith, it’s a signing he was excited to get over the line.
“I played with Shylo at Doutta Stars and he has leadership qualities,” he said. “I didn’t think we had any chance at all of getting him.
“We made the right phone calls and he’s living in Sunbury as well. He’s keen to settle down and play for the next couple of years and help develop a team.
“It’s nice to have that experience on board.”
The signing of Smith is the first of a many expected to be announced by the Thunder in the coming weeks.
Kite admits it has been tough with a lot of hard work behind the scenes trying to get things on track.
He said they were happy with how things were looking so far. He said that a few ex-teammates were among those that they’ve spoken to.
‘There’s been a number of signings for the senior group,’ he said. “Numbers across the board are promising.
“We probably thought we would get under-18s and seniors up, now it’s looking like we’ll possibly get reserves as well.
The club is happy where things are at.”
Kite said the key for the club next year would be getting former players back to the club to help rebuild the program.
He said several had been waiting to see what the club was doing before recommitting.
“Everyone is still in the end of season mode and a lot of clubs are active,” he said.
“We’ve been trying to get a few home grown players back, but a few have been on the fence.
“They left for a reason before the club decided not to have teams. To need to reinforce them we are on track.
“They are the key players we need back around the club.”
Kite said they were keen to announce some more signings in the next few weeks before pre-season training starts in five weeks.
For the first year coach he’s learning a lot on the go.
“It’s been a learning curve for myself,” he said. “I haven’t done any of the recruiting stuff before.
“I’m looking forward to planning pre-season and getting started. From the outset we want to be competitive and want to build from there.”
