The Courier |
FORMER Collingwood star Shane O’Bree will play for Darley in the Ballarat Football League this weekend and is set to become a Devil for the remainder of the season.
Pending a clearance from Beaufort in the Central Highlands Football League, O’Bree will play for Darley against Melton South on Saturday.
He played one CHFL match for the Crows in 2011, in a one-off appearance against former Collingwood teammate Simon Prestigiacomo.
The 34-year-old will be able to play a small handful of games for the club when he is not required for AFL coaching duties.
An assistant coach at Geelong, he will only be able to play when both the Cats’ AFL and VFL matches do not clash with the Devils’ fixture.
Darley football manager Craig Baker said the club had known since the start of the year that O’Bree was a chance of playing.
O’Bree is related to senior players Jake and Jarrod Edwards and is said to have wanted to play alongside them for some time.
“It’s terrific for the club to get somebody like that across,” Baker said.
“We’re not trying to make a big fanfare about it and neither is Shane. He is coming across because he wanted to have a run around with his family.”
The eagerly anticipated clash against the Panthers on Saturday was originally earmarked to be the match where Carlton legend Anthony Koutoufides would make a one-off appearance for Darley.
However coach Rod MacPherson decided playing Koutoufides was not in the best interests of the team.
O’Bree, however, has been given the green light to be part of the club for season 2013.
He trained with Darley on Tuesday night.
Baker said the former Collingwood star was still in good shape, but was probably lacking the match fitness he once had.
“He’s coming in to be more of a leader at the club than a high profile player like some of the other ex-AFL guys,” he said.
O’Bree played 226 games for Collingwood and 19 for Brisbane Lions, including the 2002 and 2003 grand finals the Magpies lost.
He was first drafted to Brisbane Lions from North Ballarat Rebels in 1998, having played all his junior football at Beaufort.
He retired from AFL in 2010.
The Devils play Melton South at Darley Park on Saturday.
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