Camperdown signs Isaac Stephens for 2024 Hampden league season

Isaac Stephens will play for Camperdown again in 2024 after winning a premiership with Nirranda in his one campaign with the Blues.

Magpies coach Neville Swayn said Stephens' signature was a valued one.

"He can probably play forward and back," Swayn told The Standard.

"I think Nirranda used him at both ends as well which is what we did the year before.

"It gives you flexibility - he can play key back, across half-forward, could play deep forward if you want."

Swayn said Gus Gordon, Billy Arnold and Riley Arnold were other players capable of "playing either end of the ground too".

"It is going to give us some headaches but gee they're going to be good headaches to have," he said.

Stephens, whose partner Lily Eldridge will also return to play for Camperdown's netball team after a year in the Geelong league with Colac Tigers, joins a host of footballers to commit to the Magpies.

Fraser Lucas, Billy Arnold and Matthew Field all return to their home clubs after two seasons in Queensland while Northern Territory Football League midfielder Eric Guthrie, who has Hampden league experience with Hamilton Kangaroos, has picked Leura Oval as his new home too.

"Sometimes you have years (with recruiting) where you feel you're hitting your head against a brick wall but this year it's been nice, it's all fallen into place," Swayn said.

"A lot of these guys you ring every year anyway, you always keep in touch with them so it's good to have relationships with them all and we have an environment they want to come back to which is probably the most pleasing thing from a club perspective."

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