Goannas kicks off recruitment by welcoming home experienced midfielder

Kendall will return to his junior club after having spent the past two seasons with Winchelsea in the Geelong and District Football League.

The midfielder is the first signing of the off-season for the Goannas and coach Nelson Foley was thrilled to welcome Kendall back to MCUE.

"We are absolutely stoked to have Lachy coming back next year," Kendall said.

"Our strategy this year from my perspective and a board perspective was to go really hard on quality Mangoplah people that really have a passion for Mangoplah.

"Lachy coming back to the club fits that bill perfectly as a junior with strong family ties to the club and whilst fitting that he also comes in almost as a marquee recruit.

"He's coming off a club best and fairest win at Winchelsea in Geelong and finished runner-up the season previous.

"To have someone come in that fits the bill as both a Mangoplah person and also a high quality recruit it really doesn't get much better."

After making his first grade debut as a teenager in 2016, Kendall went on to become a regular in the senior side playing 73 games for the Goannas before his departure at the conclusion of the 2021 season.

Kendall has previously taken on leadership roles at the Goannas in the past and Foley was of the belief that the midfielder would again take on a leadership role at the club next season.

"I'd say that's highly likely," he said.

"The really exciting thing about Lach coming back is that he actually coached a good handful of our boys through their under 15's and under 17's.

"Guys like Tristan Wheeler, Flynn Collins and quite a handful of that age bracket who have clearly played a fair bit of footy for us already and will look to be staples in our senior side next year.

"To have Lachy coming back with relationships already made with some of those younger guys I know he's really excited about it and those boys are really excited about it.

"I think it'll be a really seamless transition for him to come in and step in as a leader of our club."

Kendall's addition further adds depth to what is an already impressive midfield group at the Goannas.

Foley was looking forward to seeing what the group of himself, Kendall, Ethan Schiller, Harry Fitzsimmons and Harry Collins could achieve next season.

"He'll slot straight into our midfield," he said.

"We expect him to be someone that will be able to run out a fair chunk of every week through the midfield which is awesome to have.

"Just looking at our depth through the midfield it's so exciting to look at and we add Lachy Kendall in there who's a major recruit.

"Then you look at Harry Fitzsimmons and Ethan Schiller who both only really played half a season last year, to get those two on the park at the same time playing in the same midfield with Harry Collins going through there and some of the young talent we've got it is pretty incredible."

There has been a handful of players depart the Goannas over the off-season headlined by trio Luke Lawrence (North Adelaide), Ryan Turnbull (Belconnen) and Jono Male (Albury Tigers).

Ben Halse has also returned to Eastlake while it is believed that Sam Male will be playing football in Melbourne next season.

Despite losing a couple of players, Foley has been delighted with how the level of retention ahead of next year.

"Retention has been fantastic for us, we are really happy with where we are," he said.

"We obviously lost a couple of our travelling players and it's always hard to see Mangoplah people go but that was the natural cycle of them giving a really good stint to our club and being ready to return home.

"Beyond that our retention has pretty well been at 100 per cent and we got the under 17's premiership and we've retained and signed pretty well all of that group.

"When we start looking through what we have as a senior list and through that 17's group to be at the level that we are with our retention we couldn't be happier."

Among those to re-sign are Dean Lord and Dom Bunyan while players such as Patrick Gardiner, Wilson Morshead and Sam De Sousa are still undecided about their plans for next season.