Mitta United appoints Luke Hodgkin as playing coach for 2022

The club has signed former junior Luke Hodgkin as playing coach for next season and he's looking to attract a host of Blues' products.

"We're after Mitta juniors, so we've got a side full of people that have a connection to the club and want to see the club succeed," he revealed of his recruiting strategy.

The Hodgkin name is synonomous with Mitta.

Hodgkin's father Matthew is a four-time premiership player, while Luke's uncle Lawrence played in nine flags at Mitta and Katunga.

The 31-year-old's grandfather Michael is also a multiple premiership player and coach.

"I guess as an ex-junior, I always wanted to go back out there," he admitted of his return home.

Mitta boasts a stack of flags and had been a perennial finalist for many years, but the club has had something of a mini-drought by its standards, missing the top five the past two seasons (2019, 2021).

"It was a tough year (2021), we couldn't get a lot of blokes on the park like Drew Cameron and even 'Jacko' (last season's coach Jackson Heagney-Steart), Craig Lieschke, even just retaining those guys and getting more games out of them would have resolved some of our forward line issues," Hodgkin suggested.

"We'd probably like to bring in a couple of classy midfielders-half forward types that can do a bit of damage in the midfield, but can also go forward and kick a goal and we probably need a key defender, they would be on our wish list.

"I think we can be very competitive next year, I think we'll surprise a few."

It's Hodgkin's first sole senior coaching role, although he served as an assistant mentor at Taylors Lakes in Essendon District.

But younger brother and ex-Wodonga Raiders' mentor Jarrod won't be joining him - yet.

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"I think he's pretty keen to stay at Raiders for 2022, but he'll definitely be copping a weekly phone call for 2023."

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