By Jed Lanyon
Former AFL player Daniel Gorringe has signed a two year contract to play for Powelltown Football Netball Club in the AFL Outer East for the next two seasons.
Gorringe played 22 games with the Gold Coast Suns over five seasons before joining Carlton to play four games before retiring in 2017. He was a top ten pick in the 2010 draft but has made a bigger name for himself following his football career, most recently appearing as a contestant on reality show, Big Brother.
Powelltown FNC president Geoff Mooney said he’s looking forward to having Gorringe on board at the Demons for the next two years.
“It’s fantastic, we’re only a little town so for someone like Daniel to want to come and play for us, it’s extremely exciting. We couldn’t be any happier.”
In a statement released by the club, Gorringe said, “I’m looking forward to joining Powelltown and enjoying my footy, I just want to have fun but in the back of my mind I want to win a flag.
“Hopefully I can kick a few goals and enjoy a few tinnies in the clubrooms post game.”
Mooney acknowledged that the pandemic cancelling this year’s season allowed the club to plan ahead and organise their future.
“It made us sit back and reassess where we are as a club. We’ve come up with a plan and a strategy and have started to implement it. We wanted a high profile coach and player.”
The club brought in new senior coach in Jarrod Bayliss, who was key to bringing Gorringe over with him as his close friend and colleague.
Bayliss coached at Wandin for four years before moving to Park Orchards where he coached them to their first senior flag in 2017.
Bayliss said he’s looking forward to continuing the work of former coach James Iacono.
“I just want to come in and fit in well with the boys and help them achieve where they want to go,” he said.
“We have some recruits coming in and I’d like to see them have an impact on a young group and help them develop as players not just for the next two years but for years onwards.
“Daniel’s excited to play footy again. He said ‘I want to come and play with you’ so it’s nice to have someone of that calibre say that, it shows the quality of person he is.”
Bayliss also had a hand in bringing Michael Fowkes to Powelltown. Fowkes played at Park Orchards and Wandin and has bagged 120 goals in a season, providing plenty of reasons for Powelltown to look forward to local footy restarting.
And while it’s a little too early to talk tactics for next season, Bayliss gave an insight on what he expects from the two new recruits.
“Between Daniel and Michael, they’ll play a big role in the forward line and through the middle… Our aim will be for those boys to take plenty of marks and give us opportunities to score.”
The new coach teased that Powelltown’s recruitment drive still has some big names to return to the club. Bayliss said a former club captain would be joining the team as well as a former league best and fairest, to be named in the near future.
“It’s an exciting time for the footy club… Let’s hope we can continue that excitement and get on the field next year and get back to doing what we love in playing footy and having a beer with your mates. That’s what it’s all about.”
Former president Peter Podolinksy said he takes pride in Powelltown FNC for being family oriented and for being an enjoyable club for all involved.
“Being all the way out in Powelltown, there’s nothing really past us, so there’s always lots of intrigue as to how and why we keep going,” Mr Podolinksy said.
“The current president Geoff Mooney, he came to the club in 2007 and now he’s become the president this year, so that’s the effect this club has on you.
“We’re always trying to create a place where our opposition players like to come.”
