Wodonga's Ethan Redcliffe and Cody Szust join Coburg and Port Melbourne

Doug Strang Medal contender Ethan Redcliffe has joined Coburg, while Cody Szust signed with Port Melbourne in recent days.

Szust has nominated the Bulldogs as his second club, while the mercurial Redcliffe is working through his second club options with the Lions.

Interestingly, Corowa-Rutherglen mentor Peter German, who also coached Coburg, was the link.

"He just said he (Redcliffe) is a player you should check out and we were very interested, so when we then found out he was keen to get to Melbourne, we kept going with the conversations," Lions' general manager Sebastian Spagnuolo suggested.

"He's a dynamic forward, he's got a damaging left foot and he knows where the goals are, we'd love him to take his football to another level."

Redcliffe, who finished third in the Doug Strang Medal with 35 goals from the 13 games, admits the rapid improvement from the Bulldogs last season weighed heavily on him.

"After our good year, it was tough to leave, I think I made the right decision to try and improve my footy and try and go the extra step," he offered.

"I've always wanted to make AFL, the next step is VFL level and if you play well there, you're a chance to get to that next level."

Szust, who booted 19 majors last season after 34 games with South Adelaide and Norwood, wanted a year off from the professionalism of the SANFL.

"Yeah, I just want one last crack at it (state level)," he said.

"I definitely still want to be a part of Wodonga and that's why it was a tough decision to join the VFL."

The Bulldogs claimed the 2019 wooden spoon, but snared four wins and had narrow losses to top five teams, including Albury.

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"It's good the young blokes with the talent try the higher level," Wodonga coach Jordan Taylor declared.

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