By LIAM TWOMEY
KEILOR has ensured it will be a force to be reckoned with when it re-joins the Senior Division of the Victorian Turf Cricket Association next season.
The Blues have wasted no time in adding big names to their squad, signing Doutta Stars’ captain Aaron Mato.
The talented batsman is a former district cricketer with Essendon and showed towards the end of last season that he is built for the big stage.
Mato scored 318 runs from his final three knocks including a flawless 162 not out in the Stars’ semi-final victory over Strathmore.
“He is certainly a player with a lot of experience and even though he had a quiet start to the year he played his best towards the end when the results really mattered,” Keilor coach Nigel Freebairn said.
“He is a really big signing for us and we are really pleased to welcome him to the club.
“We had a really good look at him in the finals and he was certainly the standout player for them.
“We want players that can stand up under finals pressure and he certainly did that.”
Not done there, Keilor has also added former Essendon and North Melbourne district players Jody Hutchinson and Lucas Bugeja respectively.
Freebairn said the club had learnt a lot from the recruiting patterns of successful clubs in the Essendon District Football League which have begun adding a number of former AFL players to their lists.
Keilor has decided to head down a similar path in the hope of emulating the professionalism required to succeed at the next level.
“It certainly has been done in the EDFL in the footy with a lot of clubs signing ex AFL players,” Freebairn said.
“Those guys bring back fairly current practices in terms of elite sport and we are hoping that having a fairly strong range of first class players and premier players in the side will allow us to implement the necessary strategies and drills that will take us to the next level.”
At this stage Keilor isn’t expecting to do any more recruiting during the off-season.
“We identified last year we needed to strengthen our batting by a couple of places to be a threat to the sides in Senior Division,” Freebairn said.
“I think, in all honesty, that is probably all we can do with the points cap.
“We can now set about planning and getting the attitudes right after a premiership to give ourselves the best chance to go again.”
