FORMER North Launceston onballer and dual premiership player Ethan Petterwood is making an impression in VFL ranks having made his senior debut with the Werribee Tigers on Saturday.
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Petterwood, 22, won the Jack Hill Medal as North’s best and fairest senior TSL player last season before deciding to further his football ambitions at a higher level with a move to Werribee.
“It’s more than just his debut on the weekend,” Werribee coach John Lamont told Fairfax media.
“During the practice match phase he has played mainly in our senior group where we are able to rotate numbers and that included one game we had at the MCG against the AFL Academy team which was really good.
“He has been really impressive – a quiet young bloke, a matter-of-fact sort of person who comes in and rolls his sleeves up and works hard on the training track.”
Petterwood joins former Western Storm onballer Matt Hanson and former Northern Bombers teammate Mitchell Van Den Berg at Werribee, forging a Tasmanian connection at the Tigers.
“Ethan has virtually forced his way into the team and it is tough to get a game at Werribee with our North Melbourne alignment.”
Furthering the Tasmanian connection, former VFL-AFL Footscray and Fitzroy player and Werribee coach Simon Atkins, originally from Wynyard, presented Petterwood with his Werribee jumper.
Atkins played 147 games with the Bulldogs and 41 with the Lions between 1987 and 1996 and later coached Werribee from 2005-10.
“For first-gamers we like to do a little presentation of the jumper from a past player or whoever might be available,” Lamont said.
“Simon’s brother Paul coached Ethan as a youngster coming through North Launceston’s program.
“So there is a nice little link there and it was Werribee past players day so Aks (Atkins) came along and presented Ethan with the jumper. He spoke really well and it was a nice little touch before the game.”