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East Perth loses star picks

By Mr Dandalooa

East Perth Football Club will lose two more valuable players this year with Mark Hutchings being picked up by St Kilda and agile defender Trevor Oliver announcing his retirement.

Oliver last week shocked the WAFL and fellow teammates by his decision, although it was not really all that surprising considering the injury-plagued 21-year-old’s playing history.

Royals football manager Mark Winnett was reported as saying the youngster could no longer handle the training load at WAFL because of a degenerative knee injury.

The decision has killed off a promising AFL career for Oliver, as FootyGoss understands there were several to have shown an interest in picking up the defender.

But one of East Perth’s stars, Hutchings, has been rewarded for his hard work and was taken recently by the Saints at pick 20 in the Rookie Draft.

He will join fellow recruits Mitch Duncan and Ben Stratton in Victoria as the three look to successful footy careers in the AFL.

Stratton was taken at pick 46 by Hawthorn and joins former East Perth Royal Gary Moss, while Duncan, taken at pick 28, will join Geelong to play along side Joel Corey.

Hutchings, who played 10 WAFL games for the Royals had a reasonably tough year last season, having overcome injury early in the year before captaining the state 18s team.

St Kilda recruiter John Peake spoke highly of Hutchings, saying he has “excellent endurance and agility” and a great work ethic.

“He has got that strong body. If you think of a Jimmy Bartel who isn’t the quickest player going around, he has that strong body that can get the ball out and take punishment,” he said on the AFL’s official website.

“He’s not quite as tall as Jimmy but we look at him as a smaller version of him. He has good vision and hands. He doesn’t fumble.”

Meanwhile, Jarrad Oakley-Nicholls will be a Royal this season after he was rookie listed by the Eagles with pick 53.