LIAM PHILLIPS

AFTER spending a couple of years away from the club, 2014 premiership player Sean Brading will be returning to Gawler Central ahead of the 2020 Barossa Light & Gawler football season.

The 32-year-old – affectionately known as ‘Mr September’ due to his knack for performing in finals – spent the past two seasons at Wallaroo in the Yorke Peninsula Football League.

However, he has played the past two cricket seasons down at the Dog Track, and said he felt the itch to return and finish his career at the Tigers, with all of his mates.

“It’s mainly that I’m not a spring chicken anymore,” Brading said.

“Just being away from all your close mates that you’ve made over all the years, to get back and play with those guys means a lot.

“Hopefully my experience and playing a lot of finals footy can help me be more of a mentor and help these young guys.”

Central A-grade coach Matt Whelan was eager to add Brading to a forward line he admitted had been lacking some bite over the past couple of seasons.

“He’s proven over a number of years that he’s a highly skilled footballer who can hit the scoreboard,” he said.

“We’ve stayed in contact with Sean the whole couple of years he was away from the club, so we were never too far away from the discussions.

“From the leadership point of view he does all the right things, he’s got good habits in terms of his training and his outlook.

“But more importantly from a team point of view, we get the ball forward enough so we’ve now got another option on goal, which we’ve probably lacked the past couple of years.

“If can add 25-30 goals we’ll be very happy.”

While hitting the scoreboard is the aim, Brading said his primary goal is to stay fit and healthy while trying to help Gawler Central find its way back up the ladder.

“It’s been a bit disappointing the past couple years, so I’ll just help where I can,” he said.

“I’ve had some chats with Matty Whelan and the club and they’re pretty positive.”

Whelan also addressed the club’s need to improve as the league’s talent level continues to rise.

“We’ve got some other needs to try and improve on from last year, the entire league is strengthening, there’s a lot of ex-SANFL players coming to the Barossa league now,” he said.

“We’ve got a bit of other recruiting to get done, Sean is a key piece of that but we’ve got some other little needs to tidy up.”

But for Brading, there’s one thing  he’s missed about playing locally, more than anything.

“Once you get back out there amongst your mates, that first win will be top of the list I reckon,” he said.

“There’s no better feeling than those first five minutes after a win, having a beer with your mates and celebrating.”