The GDFL reigning premiers have announced a massive boost to their premiership defence, with an ex-AFL footballer committing to playing with the club.
Reece Conca will play at Bannockburn in a limited capacity next season, with Tigers coach Ron Pilgrim saying the signing has come after several conversations with the former Richmond and Remnant player
“It’s very exciting. We actually had a chat with him at the start of the year but he got a development role at Melbourne so that didn’t come to fruition,” Pilgrim said.
“We reached out and touched base again a few weeks ago now and he’s actually got a connection at Bannockburn, his fiance is from Bannockburn.
“We touched base a few weeks ago and got it sorted.”
Conca played 150 games across 11 seasons, after being drafted to Richmond in 2010, playing 104 games with the club before signing with Fremantle in 2019.
After ending his time as a player with the Dockers at the end of 2021, Conca joined Melbourne as a development coach where he will remain in the role while committing to playing a few games with Bannockburn.
“He’ll be playing and it will all depend on his role at Melbourne, he’s still a development coach and the senior runner,” Pilgrim said.
“We’re looking at hopefully between four to eight games.
“Obviously we’ll definitely pick his brain and use him with all his experience and knowledge, it’s something that I can definitely lean on and learn from too.
“We’re really looking forward to it, particularly with our young guys.
“He’s played 150 games of elite level football and he’s in the coaching role at that level so you’re going to learn a lot even just being around him and seeing how he goes about it.
“Some exciting times for the young guys and even us older guys at the footy club.”
Pilgrim said the club is keen to continue to develop it’s young core to ensure the Tigers can maintain their recent success at Victoria Park.
“Our expectation at our footy club that we always want to play finals, but first and foremost we want to develop the young guys we got there,” he said.
“We had a lot of kids debut this year and we think there’ll be a lot more debut next year.
“We always want to improve and I think you need to improve 10 to 15 per cent each year to stay up there.
“Most of our development is going to come from within and we’ve got a lot of young kids coming through the system.”
