SANFL club Sturt managed to lure Martin Frederick to Unley Oval in December following his delisting by Port Adelaide.
The 22-year-old will suit up for the Double Blues in 2023 after playing 14 matches at AFL level in Power colours, including six last year.
It is no shock to see a former AFL player strutting around the state leagues but the surprising element about this recruitment is that Frederick is a former Woodville-West Torrens junior.
So how did Sturt coach Martin Matter lure him across Adelaide to a rival?
“It was an interesting conversation,” he said on SEN SA’s The Run Home.
“His manager is Peter Rohde who we know through other players and he had done a bit of work with Tommy Lewis, one of our players.
“Tom had a really good relationship with him so we got Tom to make contact with Marty and we started to build that (relationship).
“We worked at that and he’s fit in really well and he’s really enjoying it. It’s been a really good get for us.”
Matter says Frederick has hit the ground running with Sturt.
It has been he, ex-Brisbane Lion Connor McFadyen and Western Bulldogs mid-season draftee Charlie Parker, among a trio of former Swans youngsters, who have made the biggest impression of the Sturt newcomers.
“A couple of the bigger names like Connor McFadyen, Marty Frederick and Charlie Parker have been very good,” Mattner added.
“And even some of the young kids we got from Sydney - Angus Anderson, Liam Puncher and Luke Giacometti - and Charlie Molan from Williamstown have all been really good.
“The other one is Nick Sadler who missed out on the draft last year but has now spent three months with us in a pre-season program and he’s going really well as well.”
Mattner says key defender Puncher, who was with the Swans Academy, will fill the void left by former Power-listed player Rylie Grundy after he departed for Mount Lofty.
Sturt finished fifth in 2022 and with their recruits in tow will be eager to improve under Mattner in 2023. They kick off their new SANFL season against Glenelg at home on April 1.