Former Blue Ben Silvagni has joined the Sydney Swans East Coast VFL competition team.
The Swans announced on Wednesday night 11 signings for the 2021 season predominately made up of Sydney Swans Academy players, with Silvagni among them.
The 20-year old was delisted by Carlton at the end of last season after two years at the club. The forward did not make any appearances at AFL level.
An exciting time as we announce 11 players for the clubโs inaugural East Coast VFL competition team.
— Sydney Swans (@sydneyswans) January 20, 2021
Swans Executive GM of Football Charlie Gardiner said the club was looking to blood as much NSW talent as possible.
โWe have tried to maintain a NSW bias,โ Gardiner toldย sydneyswans.com.au.
โWe would like to develop talent in the state and continue what we are doing with our QBE Sydney Swans Academy program, which was been really successful over the past 11 years.
โWe also wanted to go out and find the best talent we can to play in our team and support our listed players development.
โWeโve looked at players who have spent time on other AFL lists and players that have work interests in Sydney,ย so itโs been a bit of a combination of people who have a connection to Sydney,ย but we are also trying to get the best available talent.
โWeย haveย a mixture ofย players who are overย 22 yearsย old, as well asย development squad playersย โย bearing in mind we have some rules within the competitionย that at least six playersย underย the age ofย 22ย need to participateย in every game.
โThe squad is not finalised at this stage,ย but we have a list of players who are committed and thereโs a good mix of youth and experience.โ
