Violet Town has made the biggest signing of the lot, nabbing a former AFL talent to its roster.
Former Western Bulldogs and Carlton midfielder-forward Will Hayes is set to don the Towners’ kit in 2026, joining brother and fellow world-class horse trainer JD Hayes at the stable.
Hayes played 13 games in the nation’s top flight, debuting as a 23-year-old in 2019 for the Bulldogs, before his delisting after 11 games in 2021.
Performing strongly for Carlton’s VFL list, Hayes earned a call-up through the Mid-Season Rookie Draft and would add two more games to his career tally by the end of 2022, before he was swiftly cut again.
Hayes has remained on Carlton’s VFL list since his delisting, playing local football alongside his VFL commitments at Euroa in the Goulburn Valley League in 2023 and 2024 before switching to Gippsland League club Warragul in 2025.
Violet Town football co-ordinator Tim Ross stated the signing was a massive get for the club, verging on finals football after an eighth-placed finish this season.
“We’re excited to have him, with a footballer of his calibre we’ll let him do his thing,” Ross said.
“He’s important for some of the young bucks coming through, they’ll learn so much off Will.
“We’ve got some 18 to 20-year-old’s coming through the ranks and then a fair few aged 35 to 36, so it’s good to get experienced players around that 28 to 32 mark.”
Ross said the family and friendship ties were critical in luring Hayes, who had “a lot” of clubs chasing his services for 2026.
“I let the coach and his brother and his mates do the work with this one,” Ross said with a laugh.
“But obviously JD played here last year, and it stemmed a little bit from that, Will was around and popping about our club and he enjoyed his time here.
“There were a lot of clubs after him, and with work commitment and the country feel, as well as playing alongside his brother, Violet Town best suited him.”
Hayes’ pen to paper follows October’s announcement that Kyabram four-time premiership player Lachie Smith would also return to the Towners in 2026.
In other signing news, under-18s Shepparton Swans skipper Liam Kendall will begin his senior footballing journey at Dookie United, signing at the club where his father played and won the 2007 Picola District League grand final.
Fellow Swan Luke Davies is also flying the coop back across to Lancaster in the Kyabram District League.
Davies is a two-time premiership Wombat, featuring in the 2022 and 2023 flags, before departing for his two-year stint in the GVL.
The former vice-president of the club is currently playing for St Mary’s in the Northern Territory Football League ahead of Lancaster’s next campaign.
Numurkah has also announced a homecoming reunion with big man Mitch Price, who returns to the Blues following a five-year stint north of the border at AFL Hunter Central Coast League club Terrigal Avoca.
Price played at the Blues between 2015 to 2019 before his move to New South Wales, where he would claim a league best-and-fairest, multiple Terrigal Avoca club awards and appear in five grand finals, yielding two premierships in 2020 and 2025.
But while an influx of signings arrive, the pendulum also swings the other way - and it’s all swung towards the northern suburbs of Melbourne.
Longwood’s Shane Harvey, brother of AFL great Brent Harvey, has walked from the Redlegs to former club North Heidelberg, where the masters-aged footballer has played 235 senior games for the Bulldogs.
Meanwhile, Mooroopna’s Jordan Formica has headed west to West Preston-Lakeside, another club in the Northern Football League’s top division.
Up by the border, Murray Football League side Echuca United has also lost a player to the NFL’s division one, with Ollie Poole signing with Banyule, while Moama’s Khy Stovell joins the same division under the banner of the Eltham Panthers.
