The Coburg Football Club can officially confirm that Michael Hartley has been approached by Essendon for the 2015 NAB Challenge.
Hartley 21, is into his second season at Coburg after being delisted by Collingwood following a string of shoulder injuries and will join Essendon subject to a medical.
A 198cm key defender, Hartley possesses great timing and reads the play to often be the first to spoil at each contest.
“I’m pretty excited, I just want to grab this opportunity with both hands”
His rich form produced nominations by AFL clubs to have him attend the 2014 AFL State Draft Combine, but narrowly missed out on selection.
Hartley also won the Trevor Price Team Spirit award for leading Coburg in 2014 in Team Involvements which calculates statistics such as spoils, tackles, shephards and chases.
“This is a great feather for the Coburg Football Club, we have now had two players promoted to AFL environments within the last 3 months, we should be now seen as a legitimate pathway to AFL football.” Coburg GM Craig Lees stated.
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