First year Albury co-coach Anthony Miles admits he's been blessed with confirmation former AFL midfielder Daniel Cross will play some games.
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"To have someone of Daniel's calibre, as a person first and foremost, and then to have a player with that experience is terrific, we've got a lot of young guys coming through, 20 to 24-year-olds, so he can pass on his experience and guidance," Miles said.
"The family connection to the club is there as well with his old man and uncle still getting down to the club fairly often, Peter and Terry (respectively), so it's fantastic for the footy club to have him available as often as we can."
Daniel Cross played his junior football at St Patrick's before playing thirds and reserves at Albury.
He was then chosen by the Western Bulldogs in the 2000 draft and played 249 games (210 'Dogs, 39 at Melbourne), so he had never played senior football with his beloved Tigers until 2016.
"I was emergency a few times and they've told me since they thought I was too skinny, they were trying to protect me," Cross recalled.
"That was the initial reason for coming back to play senior footy where dad did and it's just gone on from there, I've enjoyed it so much, I just wanted to keep playing.
"I'm lucky that I've still got three grandparents up there, who I love coming up to see, and with my two kids it brings the family together, so there's that component as well."
During his four previous season with the Tigers, Cross has pleasantly stunned coaches with his passion and knowledge of team-mates and opponents.
ALSO IN SPORT:
"Even now for a lot of our young guys, he would have written 10-15 gym programs, so his investment in our footy club is amazing, he came down during his Christmas break, he took some running and gym sessions, he's still incredibly fit," Miles said.
Miles will co-coach with Luke Daly, who shared the role with stalwart Tom McGrath in 2019.
