LONG-suffering Broadford fans will start the season cheering in full voice as Barry Hall lines up for his old club against Lancefield on April 7.
Harley Hammond Reserve has been buzzing since late last year, when Hall, who played his junior football for the Kangaroos, signed on the dotted line.
Hall, who played for Wangaratta last year, will play at least six Riddell District Football League matches for Broadford in 2013, balancing his commitments with Fox Footy.
The six games will ensure he can play finals should Broadford make it. The signing is huge for the club, which has struggled on the field in recent times, finishing in the bottom four in the past two seasons. Hall, good mates with senior coach Aaron ‘Skip’ Bray, said he was stoked to come back to where it all began.
“I’m very excited,” he said. “It’s good to come back to the club and give them a little bit back because they certainly helped with my career.
“We’ve got a lot of older local players, my mates, coming back, so we should have a fairly solid side.
“The good part about it is the players are all local. We haven’t gone out and spent a heap on players from Melbourne.”
And while he admits he hasn’t been training the house down over the pre-season, Hall says he’s fit and firing and hopes to once again slot bags of goals for the Kangaroos.
“The body is all right. To be perfectly honest I haven’t trained too hard for it, but now the season’s here I’ve got a routine going and I’ve been going for runs to keep the belly down a bit.
“Hopefully the town gets behind us and we can do something.”
Bray too is excited about the season ahead. “When I put my hand up for the coaching gig I asked Barry the question one night and he said he would come give us a hand,” he said.
“It’s brilliant. It was just a question asked over a beer. The town and the club is abuzz.
“We’ve lacked experience on the ground, so obviously with Barry and a few other senior blokes coming back it’s all balancing out pretty well.
“We’re not going to make any wild accusations but hopefully we can improve the playing list and jump up the ladder a bit. The boys are moving the ball pretty well and they’ve got a lot of miles in their legs since October.”
