Click or flick across to see more photos of Justin Koschitzke on the Border and during his time with the Saints.
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ST KILDA forward Justin Koschitzke has signed with Lavington.
In probably the club’s biggest recruiting coup since joining the Ovens and Murray in 1979, Koschitzke will play at least 10 matches for the Panthers next year.
The 200-match AFL player said last night it was impossible to ignore his strong ties at Lavington.
“It’s great to find a new home and football family again,” he said.
“I’m looking forward to getting into some bush footy again.
“I spoke to a couple of other clubs but it was just the ties like Mark
Stevens being my first senior coach at Brocklesby and Kade and I being best mates since then.
“‘Timba’ (Tim Sanson) was my school teacher all through high school and I played with ‘Penda’ (Matt Pendergast) at the Bushies and have stayed in touch for the past 10 years.
“All the ties were too hard to go past.”
Koschitzke, 31, will start a new job in Melbourne in January and is yet to find out the exact extent of the weekend work required.
“I still have to map it all out,” he said.
“I want to get back for harvest as much as I can and it’s something we will work on when it gets a bit closer.
“Lavington really impressed me in our talks, I’m looking forward to playing for a successful club who have a lot of good people involved with them.”
Originally from Brocklesby, the 197-centimetre forward was picked up by St Kilda with selection No. 2 in the 2000 AFL Draft.
He went on to kick 247 goals for the Saints before retiring in August.
Koschitzke has been a regular at Lavington’s matches and functions in recent seasons.
Coach James Saker said the AFL player would be a huge acquisition on and off the ground.
“We have been liaising for a fair while and I guess it got serious last week,” Saker said.
“It’s massive news for the club.
“I think he will have a huge effect from the president through to the under 12s.
“He’s such a popular and well-known figure and he knows our culture really well.
“He wanted to make sure that he would fit into our culture at Lavington and I think he will do that big time.
“He’s a key forward, has 200 games of AFL football behind him and really strong connections with the club.
‘It’s just a perfect fit all-round.
“He was our No. 1 target and it’s great it has fallen into place.”
