The Footscray Bulldogs have secured former Essendon midfielder Lauchlan Dalgleish for the 2016 season, along with four more signings.
Dalgleish is joined by Jordan Staley, Hugh Wales, Andrew Tashevski-Beckwith and Brad Olsson who also signed on with the Club this week.
The news comes just days after the Club secured the services of 11 players from its 2015 list, including Mark Austin and Jordan Russell.
Dalgleish spent three years on the Bombers’ list, after being recruited via pick 11 in the 2002 rookie draft.
The 22-year-old made his AFL debut in 2013 and played three AFL games before being delisted by the Bombers at the end of last season.
Footscray coach Ashley Hansen said Dalgleish was an important signing for the VFL side.
“Lauchie’s an important signing for us because he’s had three years with the Essendon Football Club.
“He gives us that AFL experience which is important that we have for our young AFL-listed players playing each week but also for our VFL squad in general.”
Although predominantly a defender in his time at Bomberland, Hansen says Dalgleish has the capacity to push into the midfield.
“He’s got a lot of fantastic attributes like his speed and his ball use which I think will suit the Bulldogs style of play really well.
“He will be one of our really important midfielders but we think he has got a lot of room to develop in a lot of different areas.”
Staley is a former North Ballarat junior who was on St Kilda’s rookie list and also spent time with Sandringham, and joins the Bulldogs with existing VFL experience, while Wales joins from Werribee’s VFL side.
“Jordan is a big guy who offers some flexibility at both ends of the ground to play as a tall, so we’re rapt to have his experience,” Hansen said.
“(Wales has) had a bit of opportunity at VFL level, but we think he can provide the age demographic of our list and play some really good footy for us.”
Tashevski-Beckwith and Olsson round out the new signings, with both players coming out of the TAC Cup competition.
“Andrew’s from the Sandringham Dragons, who just missed out on getting drafted and has aspirations to go to the next level and Brad is from the Gippsland Power, who is a good ball user off of half back.
“Andrew’s an inside mid as well, so we’ve got a nice balance of guys at different levels.”
Footscray’s first practice match will be Sunday 12 March against Collingwood at the Holden Centre at 4pm.
