AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
ACCOMPLISHED footballer Col Sanbrook will return to where it all began and play with Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes next year.
In one of the biggest coups of the off-season, the Goannas have secured the services of Sanbrook and his Donvale team mate Andrew Pettigrove.
Sanbrook was a schoolboy sensation for MCU before leaving in 2002 to carve out a successful football career in Melbourne and country Victoria.
The signing of Pettigrove is equally as exciting for the Goannas, having captained Donvale for the past two years, a division two club in the Eastern Football League, winning its best and fairest in 2011.
Sanbrook was being strongly pursued by his former club Leongatha but ultimately decided on a return to Mangoplah, explaining it was now or never.
"The pull was coming back home to see the family," Sanbrook said yesterday.
"I've always wanted to come back and have one last year or two at Mango."
MCUE returned to finals this year where it was knocked out in the opening week by Wagga Tigers.
The Goannas were more competitive throughout the season than their fifth-place finish showed.
The concept of enjoying a fairytale premiership at his home club was eventually what swayed him to the Goannas over Leongatha.
"I was talking to Leongatha and Mango and in the end I looked at where was most likely to win a flag," Sanbrook said.
"Obviously everyone always plays to try and win a flag and hopefully it's Mango."
Sanbrook has won the one premiership previously at St Marys in the Geelong Football League, considered the strongest competition in country Victoria.
The Goannas plan to slot Sanbrook into the midfield, while Pettigrove will alternate between the ruck and a key post up forward.
Sanbrook returns to the club where his family has an enormous history.
His father Max was a top player through the 70s and enjoyed a golden era at the club, while his uncle Ian Sanbrook was an inaugural inductee of the Goannas' Hall of Fame.
Sanbrook was last at the Goannas as an 18-year-old in 2001 before earning a trial at Sydney Swans and playing for feeder club Port Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
The pair will travel each week from Melbourne, where Sanbrook knocked back an initial 10-game deal to commit to a full-season.
MCUE also expects Canberra-based talent Andrew Lieschke to play a full-season next year.