TWO-time reigning premiers Woorinen have firmed as one of the teams to beat after signing former AFL footballer Patrick Veszpremi as co-coach for the remainder of the 2022 Central Murray season last week.
Veszpremi, 32, played 23 games with Sydney (2008-10) and the Western Bulldogs (2011-13) and will take the reins alongside current Tigers coach Marcus Demaria. Along with the addition of Veszpremi, Woorinen will welcome back dual premiership wingman Taylor Cameron, who will rejoin the Tigers after playing four games for Modewarre in the Bellarine Football Netball League this season alongside former teammates Doug Beames and Lachlan Warburton.
Demaria told The Guardian that the addition of Veszpremi would make a considerable difference to Woorinen both on and off the field.
“We hadn’t appointed a joint coach from last season and we were really wanting to find the right person,” Demaria said. “He’ll be at training this week and will take training, then he’ll play his first game against Tyntynder.”
Veszpremi had been serving a suspension from his time playing with Keilor in the Essendon District Football League (EDFL) – which complicated his move to the Tigers.
“We’d been talking to Patrick for a while, but with his suspension he couldn’t really start his role with us until that was finished – we had him all signed at the start of the year, but there was no point really announcing anything until his suspension had passed,” Demaria said.
After being delisted by the Bulldogs following the 2013 AFL season, Veszpremi then played for Pascoe Vale and Doutta Stars in the EDFL. In recent seasons has spent time playing under Gary Ayres at Port Melbourne in the VFL and Mick McGuane at Keilor.
“He’s still been playing a very high calibre of footy under some high-quality coaches,” Demaria said.
“We think that with someone of his ilk and experience will be of huge benefit to us. We’ve still got a fairly young team, so just to have that on-field leadership will be fantastic and we can’t wait to see what he can do.”
