Tara Murray
Werribee has secured the signatures of four key players for next year’s Victorian Football League season.
Werribee announced on Friday that Nathan Cooper, Nick Hayes, Josh Porter and Bior Malual have re-signed for next year as the club aims to return to finals.
Hayes and Porter, both 28, are two of the team’s elder statesmen with Hayes having played footy across three different states while Porter has now had three stints in the VFL with Werribee.
Fullback Cooper enters his third year at the club and will be hoping for some continuity with his footy next season after a COVID-year and then an injury-affected 2022 that limited him to 12 games.
Malual is approaching 50 games for the club after breaking through at VFL level in 2019.
Werribee football manager Mark Micallef told the club website that all four players are hugely important to the side.
“Josh and Nick are two of our most experienced players and are so important to our forward group thanks to their football IQ and ability to direct and educate our younger players,” he said.
“Nathan is one of our key posts down back and was terrific early in the season before going down with injury while Bior is crucial to the way we play with his hard running and beautiful ball use.”
One player who won’t be back next season is Ollie Hanrahan after he decided to take some time away from football in 2023 and focus on cricket for the next 12 months.
Harahan joined Werribee this year after five seasons in the AFL with Hawthorn and was a quality addition for the club this season and was one of their more consistent players.
Hanrahan will appear for Hawthorn Kingston in Victorian Premier Cricket this summer and then plans to spend next winter playing cricket in England.
