Seymour star Riley Mason signed for Collingwood’s VFL side in late 2024 — his second stint at VFL level after being on Coburg’s list in 2022 without playing a game.
The Magpies had their first proper practice match for the season against Richmond’s VFL side on February 27.
Collingwood won the warm-up game by 85 points at Punt Road Oval.
Mason impressed with two majors.
The 194cm forward remains aligned with Seymour when he isn’t featuring at VFL level in 2025.
Mansfield’s running machine Harry Mahoney is looking to continue his impressive run with Collingwood’s VFL side as he also kicked two goals in the Magpies’ practice match.
Mahoney debuted for Collingwood midway through 2024 and settled in nicely, playing 10 matches as a half-forward.
This season, the Magpies will see Mahoney double as Harry’s brother Max — tied winner of the Murray Bushrangers’ 2024 best-and-fairest award — joins him at Victoria Park.
Collingwood VFL’s first official match of the season will be against Sydney at home on March 21.
The 2024 VFL premier Werribee has incredibly lost 31 of its 53 footballers from last year’s list as players moved to AFL clubs, local clubs or simply retired.
To help the club maintain its recent dominance of the league, Werribee has gone on a signing spree across the state this pre-season.
Werribee coach Jimmy Allan told the Big W Podcast (the club’s in-house show) that recent Kyabram signing Anthony Depasquale impressed on the track before an unfortunate injury.
“’Deppa’ was one that was going really well and then broke his finger about three weeks ago,” Allan said.
“He is a medium-sized forward who just kicks goals for fun.
“He knows where they are, and we think he will complement our other mid-sized forwards like Jack Riding and Flynn Young really well.
“Looking forward to getting Deppa back out there, but for the moment he just has to bide his time and wait for that finger to heal.”
Allan said Mooroopna coach John Lamont was a key factor behind Werribee’s signing of Cats star Dom Gugliotti.
“John was a big advocate for getting Dom on our list,” he said.
“He is a task-oriented player who does what you ask him to do.
“Hard as a Cat’s head, he tackles hard.
“I can see him filling a role as a small defender, I know he has probably played more midfield in his time at Mooroopna, but I think for now as a small defender will be his best chance to play games for us.”
Allan said he and the club trusted former Werribee coach Lamont, given his history of recommending players from Goulburn Valley League.
“John recommended another bloke that we got on board late last year who turned out to be a reasonable player for us so we backed (Lamont) in," he said.
“That was Zac Banch (former Shepparton Swans star), so we thought once JL gave us a recommendation for Dom, he didn’t get the last one wrong, so we were pretty keen to get Dom along and he is having a real crack and has been impressive in his work so far.”
In Murray Football League, Numurkah has a number of its players hoping to impress at VFL level.
Former coach and current player Jamason Daniels is currently a development coach at the Western Bulldogs-aligned club Footscray.
Meanwhile, Blues stars Clancy Lester and Josh O’Dwyer are train-ons at Footscray as the pair hopes to secure any list spots that become available throughout the season.
Lester played in the Bulldogs’ recent practice match against Essendon VFL.
