Justin Fedley rejoins Allansford ahead for 2024 season

Justin Fedley has rejoined the Cats after two seasons with Warrnambool and District league rivals South Rovers.

The tough midfielder is a best-and-fairest winner (2019) and former captain of his boyhood club which he departed ahead of the 2022 season to play alongside close friends.

Nowell was thrilled to have Fedley back in the side after it narrowly missed out on finals in 2023 with a sixth-placed finish.

"It's good to have him back," he told The Standard.

"He's gone off and played with his mates, he's decided to come back home now. We sat down and had a chat with him about our progress, he's been on our radar for a while and we know from a younger side we knew what we needed to bring back into our side to probably take us to that next level.

"We isolated four or five players that we wanted to target and Feds was one of them. Thankfully for us he's decided to come back home to the Cattery."

Fedley played 31 games across his two seasons with the Lions, earning best player selection in almost half of them (15).

Nowell expects him to slot seamlessly into the Cats' midfield.

"We all know what he brings," he said.

"He brings a pretty high level of professionalism. He's an athlete, he keeps himself in very good shape, he brings good skills, a lot of the boys already know him and a lot of the younger lads were playing junior football when he was playing senior football.

"So he'll fit straight into our engine room and we're all really excited to have him back."

The Cats mentor said the recruit had a strong desire to make an impact in 2024.

"Before he even decided to come back to Allansford, he actually said to us when we sat down with him, that he was already in the gym, he was already running, he was really pushing himself," he said.

"Wherever he played football next year he wanted to have a really good season and have a big impact...

"The group are all real excited about him coming back. We don't have to go and recruit 10 or 11 players. If you can bring in two or three A-graders like a Justin Fedley then we're in a really good spot."

The Cats have already signed young Koroit tall Jordan Boyle this off-season, with Nowell forecasting more additions.

"He (Boyle) is six-foot-two, athletic, sort of a build to suit our game-style," he said.

"He'll bring a level of excitement, he's a very good aerial player. Hopefully over the next week or so we might have another one or two A-graders coming in as well."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: