WODONGA Raiders worst fears have been confirmed with news Adam Prior has quit the Ovens and Murray.
Prior signed a two-year deal with WAFL club East Perth yesterday, terminating the two-year deal he signed with the Raiders in June.
His departure takes the gloss off the Raiders strong recruiting drive in which they signed former VFL players Scott Meyer, Tom Langlands and Todd Cook.
Prior, a two-time Doug Strang Medallist, kicked 79 goals from just 16 matches this year and came a fast-finishing second in the Raiders best and fairest award behind captain Mark Doolan.
Raiders coach Corey Lambert said Prior’s departure was “extremely disappointing”.
“Adam’s been very well looked after by the Wodonga Raiders football club,” Lambert said.
“To have him sign three or four months ago and to only find out now he’s not going to be here is tough.
“He’s the leading goalkicker in the league and we now have to go and replace that leading goalkicker.
“We’re in a position where we think we can do that but it’s disappointing that he’s decided to move on.
“We don’t begrudge him, it’s just the fact that you think things are done.
“He’s been very well looked after … and in return he’s obviously been fantastic for the club … but we all know in this competition that forwards are hard to come by and when you think you’ve got one and you’re not even on the hunt for one, it puts you on the back foot.”
Raiders match committee chairman David Nichol said last week the Raiders were unlikely to chase any more high-profile recruits but Lambert last night said Prior’s exit opened the door for the club to re-start their recruiting drive.
“It does free up some money in the budget for us to chase a quality player again … but we think Adam Cook is only going to get better this year so we’ve already got a gun forward,” Lambert said.
“The positive thing is that we’ve recruited strongly to date and we feel the club is doing everything right off the field and in terms of recruiting.
“This is a hiccup, but we feel we’ll still be okay and we’ll move on.”
East Perth football manager Mark Winnett said the Royals, who finished last season in fifth position, expected Prior to have a “major impact” on the WAFL.
“This year’s obviously really impressed us, how he’s gone about it in a side that didn’t play finals,” Winnett said.
“We need a power forward and someone that can bring more firepower to us and we saw Adam as that person.
“We really think at our level he’s got an awful lot to offer. With the added professionalism we’ve got and getting him into a state league environment, he’s still got a lot of improvement in him too so it’s exciting.”
In better news for Raiders, Albury reserves premiership player Matt Dawson is expected to sign with the Raiders this week after training at Birallee Park in recent weeks.
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