The club announced the signing of the oldest Atley on Sunday, with senior coach Steve Stroobants revealing discussions with the 29-year-old moved quickly after his retirement from the elite level in October when he was delisted by North Melbourne.
Atley’s career at Arden St spanned 234 games over the course of more than a decade, after he was taken with pick 17 in the 2010 AFL Draft.
“Obviously with the Atley family being local, once Shaun retired from the AFL, we got in contact and played it by him,” Stroobants said.
“We have a couple guys at the club who are family friends with the Atleys, and there was a bit of talk through Joe.
“The boys are always saying they wanted to play footy together, it was just a matter of when.
“There was a bit of back-and-forth, Shaun was going to go overseas, and when that didn’t eventuate he was happy to come on board and play some footy at Rochy.”
Though Atley will jet off for a short stint overseas in January, he will be back ready for round one of the 2022 Goulburn Valley League season, with Stroobants expecting him to slot into a role through the midfield and off half-back.
But it is more than Atley’s on-field talents that will strengthen the foundations at Moon Oval following the departure of another former AFL player, Logan Austin, over the off-season.
“Shaun’s footy speaks for itself, but we can’t wait to get him pulling on the Rochy colours and playing with the young guys we have around the club; they’ll get a great boost from that,” Stroobants said.
“It’s mainly their enthusiasm and experience, they know where to be to get the footy, and where to be to set up on the ground to defend and on offence.
“Just the young blokes seeing that elite level of footy they watch on television, it’s great for them to see and learn off of at training and game days, just to pick their brains about how to go about their footy.
“And really, the whole club will love having him around.”
The youngest of the Atley brothers, Jacob, has also committed full-time to the Tigers next season after a stint in the VFL, while Joe will continue to play at the state level with Essendon, a club he co-captained in 2021.
He will have the opportunity to come back and play with Rochester throughout the year as his nominated local club.
“To have them boys back together and playing at Rochy will be awesome for our group with where we are at,” Stroobants said.
“We think we’re in the mix of those top teams, we just need to get a bit more consistency going, and with them involved, it will only help us.”
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