The Footscray Bulldogs have added ex-Werribee Tigers duo Darcy Fort and Jordan Keras to their list this pre-season, bolstering the experience and versatility of the VFL side’s lineup in 2014.
Bulldogs Development Manager Chris Maple said the additional VFL experience provided a boost to the Footscray team and will add another layer of leadership.
View the full list of former AFL listed players who have committed to the Footscray Bulldogs
The recruitment of Fort will be particularly beneficial, adding another emerging ruck option to the side, after he made strides in his development at the Tigers during 2013.
“Darcy Fort is a young, developing ruckman, we will help develop his game and hopefully he can go further with his footy,” Maple said.
“Fort is going to be a good addition to help out in our ruck stocks.”
A knee injury is likely to keep Keras off the field during 2014, however, Maple said he had already left a positive influence on the team during the pre-season.
“Unfortunately Jordan Keras hurt a knee, he was training the house down and he is recovering well but we probably won’t see him play at all this year,” he said.
“He is recovering really quickly and he would have been a good asset as well.”
On field leadership will not be hard to come by for the Footscray Bulldogs in 2014, when shared between former AFL and VFL listed players who have committed to building the side.
However, Maple said it was still up to the AFL-listed players to drive standards and tap into their leadership potential when playing for Footscray.
“We are trying to develop leadership in our younger, developing players and they’ve got to shoulder a lot of the load,” he said.
“We aren’t expecting our older VFL boys to do it [exclusively] and that is why we didn’t recruit many of them.
“The majority of this is going to be up to the Western Bulldogs young players developing on the list, to learn their trade and play some hard contested footy… that we want all our players to play.”
Footscray Bulldogs list so far:
VFL: Darcy Fort (South Barwon/Werribee), Jordan Keras (Werribee)
