Alesha Capone
Three former AFL players have signed on with Werribee Football Club.
Charlie Ham, Ollie Hanrahan and Kye Declase commenced training last week.
Hanrahan played 29 games across his five seasons with Hawthorn, while Ham began last year with the Geelong Falcons before joining North Melbourne in the mid-season draft.
A familiar face to fans, Declase is returning for his fifth season at Werribee, after being picked by Melbourne in the mid-season draft.
Hanrahan, who scored 18 goals during his time at the Hawks, is set to join Werribee’s midfield.
The 23-year-old said taking to Werribee head coach Mick Barlow had convinced him to head west for the 2022 season.
Hanrahan said his first week of training at Werribee has been different to five years at Hawthorn.
“In a purely AFL environment, it’s different to the VFL environment in terms of culture,” he said.
“(At the VFL) it’s a lot more laidback and you can learn to have fun again and love the game again.
“However, it’s the same in terms of wanting to get better, improve and win the premiership.”
Hanrahan described Werribee as “a very good club”.
“It’s known as being very tough, and tough in attacking,” he said.
“When I have played them before they have been hard to beat, I am glad to be on the other side of that now,”
Hanrahan said he and his Werribee team members were “very determined” to win the premiership in 2022.
“Hopefully to try to get the premiership would be very nice, trying to improve my game as much as I can, teach the other players some of the things I learned in Hawthorn and helping out some of the younger players too,” he said.
Declase, who first joined Werribee in 2018, said training at an AFL level last year “has put me in good stead to play good VFL footy and perform at my best”.
Declase said although a few clubs tried to poach him for 2022, “it was pretty clear-cut to me that I’d be going back to Werribee to play there, because it’s a great club”.
“I love playing with my mates,” he said.
Declase said that every year in the VFL, there were teams who made the finals but never quite made it to ultimate victory.
“Werribee is that club, obviously we want to win some silverware (this season),” he said.
Aside from winning a premiership with Werribee this season, Declase said he would be trying to get back onto the AFL list in the mid-year draft.
In addition to the three-times weekly training sessions at Werribee, he has been getting up at 5am to go swimming and complete extra sessions before work, so that he will be ready if he does get a call from the AFL.
Ham, who played in a round 11 matchup against Werribee in 2021, said he hoped to have a big impact in his first full VFL season.
“I’m excited for next year and just want to continue to use my strengths which is my running and kicking, and see where things can go from there,” he said.
