By Ewen McRae
Werribee forward Josh Corbett is on his way to the AFL after being signed by Gold Coast on Monday night.
The Suns signed the reigning Fothergill-Round-Mitchell medallist under special dispensation rules afforded to them and Carlton to help them rebuild their lists after years down the bottom of the ladder.
Carlton and Gold Coast are allowed to sign two state league players each and either keep them or trade them as part of special AFL rules introduced this year.
Corbett did not test in front of recruiters at last week’s draft combine, but the Suns’ recruiters attended several of his games this year to scout the 190-centimetre forward.
While Corbett played just nine games for Werribee this year, he booted 22 goals and averaged 7.6 goals a game, earning the VFL most promising young player medal.
Corbett will be joined at the Suns by SANFL key position player Chris Burgess, with Suns list manager Craig Cameron excited at what the pair will add to their list.
“We are rapt to be in a position to confirm that Josh and Chris will join our club,” Cameron said.
“We’ve been really impressed with both guys. We believe the special assistance provided by the AFL will help us enormously in 2019. It means we can maintain our strong hand at the draft where we plan to select top-end talent, but these players will mean we can add much-needed experience to our list in 2019.”
Meanwhile, new Werribee coach Mark Williams has spoken publicly for the first time since his appointment for the 2019 season, saying the community aspect of the club was one of the big drawcards when he was looking for his next coaching challenge.
“It’s a community club and it really is about the community here and has such a warm feel about it,” Williams told the club’s Facebook page. “I’m really looking forward to meeting the supporters and working with the more senior players as well to build ability and also their leadership and their understanding of what makes a great club.
“We want to include the multicultural aspect of this community, because it is so diverse and nothing is more important to me than getting some of the multicultural kids up and playing because we know they’ve got some special talents.”
Williams said he wanted to make Werribee a destination club.
“We want to find coaches and players who can make this the best place it can be,” he said.
“It might take a little bit of time, but when people get to hear what it’s like and the excitement – I mean I’m about motivation and coming up with different things to help people learn and showing the care to make people believe that this is a great club.”
