Coburg are pleased to announce that Essendon’s James El Moussalli has agreed to terms for 2016.
El Moussalli crosses from Tullamarine after managing four games for the VFL Bombers in 2016, where he debuted in round one as the sides 23rd man. When not selected for Essendon, he managed 12 appearances for Northern Football League Division one side Eltham.
Although VFL appearances for James in 2016 were frequent, his talent wasn’t certainly unnoticed. He managed a place in the annual AFL Victoria Young Guns game, coached by our Development League Coach of the past two seasons, Marcus Hastings. His best VFL performance came in round two against North Ballarat where he managed 16 possessions and seven marks, while in round four against the Casey Scorpions he managed eight tackles.
El Moussalli played his TAC Cup football with the Northern Knights. After a promising debut season where he managed twelve games, he made a blistering start to the 2015 season where he was on the radar of recruiters and Vic Metro selectors, he would injure his shoulder. It required a reconstruction and ended his season. He would recover in time to partake in the State Combine later that year.
Standing at 188cm, El Moussalli is best suited to an inside midfield role and is well capable of hitting the scoreboard, boasting a significant level of pace and speed. He is also suited to roles up forward and down back.
An AFL multicultural ambassador, El Moussalli was also nominated by the AFL as a category B rookie, however he can’t wait to pull on the Lions jumper for season 2017.
“Coburg usually are seen as an underdog team, and I’m coming from Essendon who made a semi-final this year, so hopefully I can contribute to Coburg pushing towards making the finals in 2017,” said El Moussalli.
List and Recruiting Manager Sebastian Spagnuolo was pleased to have secured the services of the former Northern Knight Graduate. “James joins our club in search of more senior opportunities. He sees Coburg as the club that can develop his game further and we believe that he will thrive in our environment. We are excited by the flexibility that he offers us, as a player that can play in the midfield, up forward and even across halfback.”
El Moussalli will join a host of former Northern Knights team mates at Piranha Park, consisting of Michael Ercolano, Josh Iacobaccio, Michael Mattingly and Liam Hunt, and we are excited to have him on board for 2017.
