Wodonga goalsneak Ethan Redcliffe's form impressed at least one former AFL assistant this season.
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When Corowa-Rutherglen coach Peter German was quizzed on a position he would love to fill next year, he pointed to a Redcliffe-type.
"I'd love to have a clever, smart forward who knows how to kick a goal, like that Redcliffe from Wodonga, he knows when to go and when to whoa," he declared.
During stints in the AFL, VFL and WAFL, German has seen all types of players, so it's high praise indeed.
Of course, the Roos' coach wasn't making a play for the teenager, but he understands all teams need that player who can conjure a goal when needed.
"He's freakish, he seems to out-smart the defender and get them out the back, nobody catches him back to goal," Wodonga coach Jordan Taylor enthused.
"I think his strength is that goal nous and his ability to hit top speed quickly and finish."
He's freakish, he seems to out-smart the defender and get them out the back.
- Wodonga coach Jordan Taylor on Ethan Redcliffe
In his first season out of under 18s, Redcliffe finished third in the Doug Strang Medal with 35 goals, behind joint winners Michael Newton (Wangaratta) and Jacob Conlan (Albury) on 44.
He looks a natural forward, but spent his juniors on-ball.
"I was a midfielder, but I had a year off around 15-16 because I had two bulging discs in my back," he revealed.
"When I came back I played mainly forward and then stuck with it."
Coach Taylor is happy he did with the 19-year-old and midfielder Josh Mathey, 17, spearheading the club's young talent.
"They will hold a big part of the future, although I wouldn't be surprised if the pair went and tried a higher level," he suggested.
"I know VFL clubs would be interested in both of them, but I know their hearts are at Wodonga and they'll be here for a fair few years."
The Bulldogs were coming off one of their worst seasons in the club's proud history, snaring the wooden spoon with only one win.
But the appointment of Taylor around 12 months ago, along with a handful of fellow recruits, transformed the club.
The Bulldogs won four of the 13 games, but suffered gut-wrenching three-point losses to Albury and Wodonga Raiders in successive weeks.
The club has the longest finals drought in the league (it will be 13 years in 2022), but there's a rapidly growing belief.
"With Jordan and the other recruits, there was a really good spark, the next few years, I feel something good is going to come from it," Redcliffe added.
IN OTHER NEWS:
The league will be hoping so too as a resurgent Wodonga provides an enormous boost to the competition.
The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League has just confirmed on Friday afternoon that the Morris Medal will be held at Albury's SS&A Club on Friday, November 12, COVID restrictions pending.
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