By Mark Paxton
Coburg Football Club would like to announce that Ryan Exon, Jay O’Donoghue, Josh Weightman and Josh Guthrie have all signed on for 2019.
This is a huge step forward for the club, as we look to continue from the improvements made in 2018. GM Sebastian Spagnuolo was delighted with the four players recommitting for the 2019 season
After playing his 50th game early in the season, Exon will play a valuable role next season, with his veteran experience a massive bonus for the young kids coming through.
“Ryan again showed why hes a much loved player at our club with his ability to always be up for the challenge on display weekly. 2018 was another great year for Ryan personally & to have him re-commit to our club for 2019 is another great sign that we’re headed in the right direction,” Spagnuolo said.
O’Donoghue will look to be more prevalent in season 2019 after impressing in six games throughout 2018, & showing good form with EDFL club Glenroy when not selected at Coburg.
“Jay showed in his VFL games that there’s definitely someone for Leigh & our coaches to work with and is looking forward to doing his first full preseason, after an interrupted 2018 preseason.”
Joshua Weightman managed twelve games in 2018. With his on ball & forward pressure a key, Weightman will be looking for further improvements for the 2019 season.
“Josh got better & better throughout the year and started really impacting in the midfield in the back end of the year. As a mature player with a heap of senior footy under his belt he’ll be looking forward to building on his first VFL Season in 2019.”
Josh Guthrie showed he was more than capable of further developing into a regular VFL player, having only joined the club in early March after spending the last three seasons at Geelong.
“To be the last player signed for the 2018 season and then to play the amount of games he did for us in 2018 showed great character to buy into Leigh’s program immediately. Again, Josh will benefit from a full preseason with the group,” Spagnuolo said.
This brings the total amount of contracted players for 2019 to 14. With hopefully more re-signings to come along with potential new recruits looming, the Lions will be hoping they as a club can go better in 2019.
