MATT Tyler will return to the Horsham District Football Netball League to play with home club Rupanyup after a four-year stint in the Central Highlands Football League.
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Panthers president Rod Weidemann said the club was rapt to have the 30-year-old back for the 2018 season.
“Matt offers a wealth of experience and qualities,” he said.
“We always hoped that he would come back to us. The Tyler family has a pretty strong connection to the club so it was always a possibility.”
Tyler played 70 games in his four seasons with Springbank, where he tasted premierships success in 2015 and 2016 following a grand final loss in his first season at the club.
After finishing the home and away season third on the ladder in 2017, the side bowed out to Beaufort in the preliminary final.
When he left the Panthers in 2013, Tyler told the Mail-Times leaving the club had been a tough decision and that he would like to return home after embracing the challenge of playing in the Central Highlands league.
Mr Weidemann said the experience of a player who was once on the Brisbane Lions list would be a great benefit for the club, which finished 10th on the ladder in 2017.
“His talents will obviously allow us to continue building on how we finished last season,” he said.
“We’re really trying to focus on developing our juniors because in the long term that is the only way the club will survive.
“A player coming in with Matt’s experience of being coached at the highest level will definitely help out in that department.”
Mr Weidemann said he thought Tyler’s approach to the game and training would help boost the work ethic of the club’s young and talented players.
“Matt is very good clubman who is happy to share his knowledge and life experience in football with the playing group,” he said.
“It’s a big tick for the club to get him back on board.”
Mr Weidemann hopes junior members will look at the pathway Tyler has taken and know that the same opportunities are also there for them.
“He obviously spent some time with the Rebels, but he has also stuck with Rupanyup,” he said. “It will show our juniors that the pathway is there for them to make it to the highest level as well if they are good enough.”
